3 Intervention Applications filed In SC against Order staying Jagannath Rath Yatra

On Saturday, the lawyer of the petitioner said that 3 intervention applications have been filed in the Apex Court seeking modification of its earlier order staying the annual Rath Yatra at Jagannath Temple in Odisha's Puri in view of Coronavirus pandemic.

On June 18, the Supreme Court had, on June 18, stayed the annual Rath Yatra, which was slated to being on June 23, & all activities related to the gathering for the event.

Pranay Kumar Mohapatra, counsel for the petitioner told the news agency that "I have filed three intervention applications on behalf of three devotees seeking a modification of the June 18 order of the apex court. One application was filed yesterday & two today".

According to the Counsel, the intervention applications are likely to be listed for hearing on Monday.

Mohapatra said that "I hope the court modifies its order & allows the holding of Rath Yatra at Puri only subject to some restrictions. Rath Yatra should be held in Puri on its scheduled time & the entire district should be shut down completely".

He added, "People should not be allowed to participating in the Rath Yatra & the temple area should be barricaded around 3 km. Odisha government has already conducted COVID-19 tests on 1,172 sevayats, which have come negative".

Mohapatra said that if the Rath Yatra is conducted by sevayats, there are less chances of coronavirus spread during the religious programme.

Notably, the Govt. of Odisha has also decided to abide by the Apex Court's order to not hold Jagannath Rath Yatra in Puri this year in view of Coronavirus pandemic.

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