Women have finally secured access to the sanctum sanctorum of Haji Ali Dargah that was so far open only to men.
The Board of Trustees of the Haji Ali Dargah has decided to give equal right to both men and women to visit the famed dargah with a rider. They will not touch the sanctum sanctorum of Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari dargah.
The Board took the decision on October 11, 2016 and conveyed to the Supreme Court on Monday. Senior advocate Gopal Subramanium informed the Bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur that the trustees have decided to grant equal visitation rights to women and men as per the tenets of Islam.
An affidavit filed by the Haji Ali Trust detailed the scheme and the resolution passed by the Board in its meeting that said, “The Trustees believe in complete equality of men and women as envisaged in Islam and to give effect to the said principle of equality, have decided that both men and women shall be allowed to enter the room which houses the Sanctum Sanctorum of Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari right upto the sanctum.”
It further clarified that “neither men nor women shall be allowed to touch the Sanctum Sanctorum” of the buried saint.
The Bench, also comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and l Nageshwara Rao, gave four weeks to the Trust to make necessary arrangements required to make the access uniform to both men and women. Subramanium informed the Court that a competent architect will design the changes and necessary alterations to the existing structure will be completed in two weeks. He requested for four weeks as the Trust intended to change the flooring of the room housing the sanctum sanctorum.
Explaining the new scheme on a map, Subramanium indicated that women till now were allowed upto a point from where they barely got a view of the mazar (tomb). Through separate entry doors, women will now be able to reach till the room where the sanctum sanctorum is situated, he added. Even men will be allowed only till this point.
The matter had reached Supreme Court on an appeal filed by Haji Ali Trust against the August 26, 2016 order of the Bombay High Court ending the discrimination meted to women in terms of access to the sanctum sanctorum. The order came on a PIl by Noorjehan Naiz and Zakia Soman, who represented a body called the Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan. They submitted that women were allowed to enter the sanctum area till the year 2011-12 but were denied following a decision taken by the Haji Ali Trust.
Interestingly, the Trust had quoted from the Quran in the HC to deny entry of women into the sanctum and now cited the same Quran to grant equal access to men and women entering the dargah.