India’s oldest pending case set to get closure in Supreme Court

New Delhi, Sep 21: The oldest pending case in the country involving the religious practice of excommunication in the Dawoodi Bohra community may be finally taken to a conclusion by a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court.

The 36 year old pending case would come up for final hearing before a five-judge Bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul. The excommunication of a member would result in social boycott and also the person would be barred entry to places of worship.

The Bench has asked all the parties for their written submissions on the latest legal position and the proposed course of scrutiny as to whether the practice of excommunication of the Dawoodi Bohra community can continued as protected practice.

The petition was last listed in 2005 and now it will be heard on October 11 by the Bench which also includes Sanjiv Khanna, AS Oka, Vikram Nath and JK Maheshwari. During the hearing on Tuesday the state ofMaharashtra submitted that the case be headed by a nine-judge Bench which was already seized of several issues pertaining to the scope of judicial review of religious practices following the verdict in the Sabarimala case.

The spiritual head of the community the 53rd Syedna argued that the proceedings do not survive anymore as the entire controversy revolved around the 1949 Bombay Prevention of Excommunication Act. The same has been repealed by a Maharashtra law in 2017, it was also argued.

The Dawoodi Bohra community has a long history of legal battles on issues such as excommunication.

In November 1949 the Bombay province passed the Bombay Prevention of Excommunication Act. The 51st Syedna had then filed a petition against the law on behalf of the Dawoodi Bohras.

The plea said that the power of excommunication was one of the tools with which the spiritual head managed the affairs of the sect. In 1962 a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court struct down the 1949 act which sought to prevent religious denominations from ousting a member of the denomination.

In 1986 a write petition was filed by the Central Board of the Dawoodi Bohra Community citing the findings of a commission headed by Justice Narendra Nathwani set up in 1977 to find out if the allegations of social boycott of some families was true.

The commission said that the complaints were not unfounded and recommended that the social boycotts be made illegal. In 1994 a two-judge Bench directed the matter to be heard by a seven-judge Bench. However in 2004 the court held that the matter first be examined by a five-judge Bench to determine whether it requires to be heard by a seven-judge Bench or not.