SC DISMISSES PLEA SEEKING PROCESSIONS ON MUHARRAM

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a public interest litigation seeking permission for taking out Muharram processions, saying a general direction for the entire country in this regard will lead to chaos.

“It is not possible to give general directions for the entire country. It will create chaos. That particular community will be targeted for spreading Covid-19... we do not want that,” a three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde said.

The petitioner, Muslim cleric Kalbe Jawad, cited the concessions given by the court this month to the Jain community to worship at three temples in Mumbai for the last two days of the Paryushan festival. He said a similar relief was also granted for conducting the Rath Yatra in Puri.

The bench said in the Jain and Puri cases, they could assess risk as they were happening at a particular place, which was not the case with Muharram processions.