SC allows Puri Rath Yatra without public

In a turnaround of its June 18 order, the Supreme Court on Monday permitted the roll-out of Lord Jagannath’s annual Rath Yatra on Tuesday with stringent restrictions involving the sealing all the entry points to the city of Puri — airports, railway stations, bus stands — and placing the entire city under curfew when Rath Yatra chariots are taken in procession during 10 to 12 days long festival. “During the period of curfew no one would be allowed to come out of their houses or their places of residence, such as, hotels, lodging houses, etc,” the Court ordered.

“To start with, the curfew shall begin tonight at 8 pm”, said the order that was uploaded on the top court’s website after 7 pm.

Aftab Hossen, a 19-yearold Muslim boy hailing from Odisha’s Nayagarh district is now a familiar name in the state, who is fondly called Salabega II for his intense love of Lord Jagannath.

Aftab was the first man who had reacted to the Supreme Court’s June 18 stay order on Rath Yatra and pleaded for a reconsideration of the verdict. He moved the apex court for modification of its verdict.

Aftab Hossen is a finalyear BA economics student at the Nayagarh Autonomous College and is now being referred to as the second Salabega of the state on social media.

Salabega, who was the son of a Mughal subedar, occupies a special place among the devotional poets of Odisha as he had devoted his life to Lord Jagannath. He lived in the first half of the 17th century.

During the three kilometre journey during Rath Yatra, the chariots of the three deities — Lord Jagannath and His siblings Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra — stop for a while near the grave of Salabega located on the Grand Road as a mark of respect.

Hossen said he has been influenced by Lord Jagannath since his childhood and that his late grandfather Multab Khan was also a devotee.

After Hosssen’s intervention application in the SC, 15 more petitions were filed in the SC. He filed his application through his advocate P.K. Mohapatra.

Hossen said his grandfather had constructed a Trinath (Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwar) temple at Itamati in 1960.