Hindustan Times (Chandigarh)

A community will be targeted, says SC, rejects Muharram plea

- Abraham Thomas

...not possible to give general directions for the entire country. It will create chaos. That community will be targeted for spreading Covid-19... SC BENCH

NEW DELHI : 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 bench said such an order can put the entire community in difficulty and noted that states were also not made parties by the petitioner, Muslim cleric Kalbe Jawad.

The petitioner cited the concession­s given by the court this month to the Jain community to worship at three of their temples in Mumbai for the last two days of the Paryushan festival. He said a similar relief was also granted by the court 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.

The bench, also comprising Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubram­anian clarified, “While allowing Jagannath Yatra, we could assess the risk as it was happening in one place. In the case of Jains, we permitted only five persons to worship. At the same time, we did not allow Ganesh idol immersion in Chennai.” Even the order permitting Jains in Mumbai came with a rider that the direction will not apply to Ganesh Chaturthi celebratio­ns.

“You are seeking directions for the entire country,” the bench said. It added that if the request was made for one place, it could be considered.

Jawad’s lawyer, Azim H Laskar, pointed out that a majority of Shia Muslims, who mainly take out Muharram procession­s to mourn the killing of the Prophet’s grandson Hussain and other members of his family in the battle of Karbala in the seventh century, are concentrat­ed in Lucknow. He said the procession­s are to be held on Saturday.

The bench allowed the petitioner to approach the Allahabad High Court. “We cannot know what are the conditions there [in Lucknow]. You approach the High Court,” said the bench.

Two petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court seeking permission for taking out Muharram procession­s.

Two days ago, the Supreme Court heard a similar plea seeking permission for taking out Muharram procession­s.

On Tuesday, a similar prayer was made by a PIL filed by petitioner Sipte Mohammad, who was asked to first join states as parties and was given four weeks to do so.

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