Female law students have moved a plea in the Delhi high court for seeking directions to the Centre and other authorities to permit entry of women into the Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Dargah.
The public interest litigation has claimed that there is a notice put up outside the ‘dargah’ clearly stating in English and Hindi that women are not allowed inside.
According to the report published in Times of India, the law students in their petition said they moved the high court after making several representations to the authorities, including the Delhi Police, but no response was received from them.
The plea has sought directions to the Centre, Delhi government, police and the trust managing the shrine, to frame guidelines for ensuring the entry of women into the dargah and declare the ban on entry of females as “unconstitutional”.
The petitioners have quarrelled that when the Supreme Court has allowed females of all ages to go to Sabarimala shrine in Kerala, women were being discriminated against by being prohibited from entering the dargah. The petitioners are law students from Pune.
When the petitioner visited the shrine on November 27 to offer prayers, the law students came to know of the bar on women’s entry at the dargah.
The petition reads “Nizamuddin Dargah by its very nature is a public place and prohibition of entry of anyone in a public place on the basis of gender is contrary to the framework of the Constitution of India.”