The INC, in its plea, supported the PoW Act, 1991, stating that it does not violate the freedom of religion and that it is essential for communal harmony in the country.On December 12 last year, a bench headed by the chief justice, while acting on a batch of pleas relating to the 1991 law, restrained all courts from entertaining fresh suits and passing any effective interim or final orders in pending cases seeking to reclaim religious places, particularly mosques and dargahs.The Act prohibits conversion of religious character of places of worship from their status as of August 15, 1947.The SC will hear the plea filed by BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking a direction that Sections 2, 3 and 4 of the PoW Act be set aside.The court will also consider a plea filed by former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy against certain provisions of the 1991 law. Swamy had sought directions to ‘read down’ the law so Hindus could stake claim over the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi and Shahi Idgah Mosque in Mathura.
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