Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991
The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, is a central legislation that prohibits conversion of any place of worship from one religion to another and mandates that all places of worship maintain the religious character they had on 15 August 1947.
- The Act was enacted during the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid agitation to prevent similar disputes arising at other religious sites across India.
- Section 3 prohibits the conversion of any place of worship of any religion into one belonging to a different religion. Section 4 declares that the religious character of places of worship shall continue as it was on 15 August 1947.
- The Ayodhya Ram Mandir case was explicitly excluded from the Act's coverage (as it was already pending in court before 1991).
- The Act does not directly address the question of who may enter a place of worship — it deals with conversion of the character of the place, not access rights.
- The Act's constitutionality has been challenged in the Supreme Court (Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v. Union of India, pending as of 2026), with petitioners arguing it restricts Hindus from reclaiming places of worship.
● Tracked since February 02, 2026 · last seen July 18, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes
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