The women offered floral tributes, ‘chadars’ and prayed for peace at the dargah.
Months after Supreme Court passed a judgement allowing women inside the inner sanctum sanctorum of Haji Ali Dargah, a group of 250 women activists on Wednesday afternoon offered prayer at the shrine.
The Dargah trust welcomed the members of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) members and also served them tea. After the prayers, the group enjoyed qawwali performance.
“We had gathered in the city for an event. We thought of coming together and seek blessing by offering prayers peacefully. We are happy that we are finally given entrance in the mazar area. We are thankful to the trustees for giving women facilities according to the SC order. But still we were not able to touch the grave (Mazar). We will soon have a national meeting of our BMMA and decide on our next step,†DNA quoted Noorjehan Safia Niaz, who had filed the petition at the Bombay High Court.
“We will routinely visit the dargah now. It was a fight for equality, ending gender bias and our constitutional rights. We are happy that it has resulted in women and men getting equal unrestricted access right till the sanctum sanctorum,†founding member of BMMA Zakia Soman told to India today.
The women offered floral tributes, ‘chadars’ and prayed for peace at the dargah.
It all started in June 2012 when the dargah trustees had decided to deny women access the sanctum sanctorum comprising the mazaar (grave) of the revered Muslim saint, Sayyed Peer Haji Ali Shah Bukhari.
Against the ban, BMMA founders approached Bombay High Court and on August 26, the court held that ban imposed by the trust is against the constitution of India as is contravened, Articles 14, 15 and 25 of the Constitution. The dargah trust challenged this judgement on Supreme Court.
On October 24, the trust told the Supreme Court that it was ready to implement the Bombay High Court’s order to allow women to the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine located in South Mumbai.