The trust told the apex court that it would build a separate pathway for women.
Mumbai’s Haji Ali Dargah Trust on Monday told the Supreme Court that it was ready to implement the Bombay High Court order and agreed to allow women inside its sanctum sanctorum.
The trust told the apex court that it would build a separate pathway for women and the construction will take two weeks.
However, the Supreme Court questioned the need for separate entry to men and women in the dargah.
“We are concerned only about equal access to women and not in the reason as to why the trust is doing it now,” the SC bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur, Justice D Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao said.
The bench had also remarked that “if you are not allowing both men and women to go beyond a point, there is no problem. But if you are allowing some to go beyond a point while others are not, it is problem.”
The Supreme Court bench granted time to the trust and disposed off its appeal against the Bombay High Court order asking it to give equal access to women also.
Appearing for the trust, senior advocate Gopal Subramanium assured the bench that he was on a “progressive mission” and said all holy books and scriptures promoted equality and nothing which is regressive in character should be suggested.
Noorjehan Fiaz and Zakia Soman, founders of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) had challenged the ban on women’s access to the sanctum sanctorum calling it unconstitutional.
The Public Interest Litigation stated that gender justice is inherent in the Quran and there is no prohibition on women visiting graves.