One important piece of legislation in India’s legal and political landscape is the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. Except for the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya, which was specifically exempt from its scope, the Act, which was passed by the Indian Parliament, attempts to maintain the status quo of religious sites as they existed on August 15, 1947.

This law addresses the historical complexity of religious disputes in India while embodying the secularism tenets that form the foundation of the Indian Constitution.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, political unrest and increased communal tensions were the backdrop against which the Act developed. Places of worship disputes, which frequently arose from historical grievances involving claimed conversions or desecrations throughout the Mughal and colonial eras, were at the centre of these tensions. With its divisive effects, the Ayodhya controversy highlighted how urgently a legal framework is needed to stop future intercommunal strife....