On 13th August 2020 the Bombay High Court in the case Ankit Hirji Vora v. Union of India and Others, comprising of Justice S.J. Kathawalla and Madhav J. Jamdar held that the Jain Community shall not visit the Temples for the Paryushan Festival that will commence from August 15 till August 23, 2020.
On 11th August 2020, the Petitioners filed a Writ Petition for seeking relief in relation to permission that shall be granted to the Jain Community to visit temples during the Paryushan festival. It was argued by the Advocates of the Petitioner that as per the Order of the Ministry of Home Affairs on 8th June 2020 the religious places shall be opened.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 4th June issues SOP on preventive measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 in religious places/places of worship. The Court opined that as per its Order dated 11th August 2020 the view that is upheld is that-
- The Petitioners are allowed to forthwith submit their representations to the Secretary, Disaster Management in this regard.
- (ii) The Secretary, Disaster Management shall consider the representation of the Petitioners/members of the Jain Community and after considering the same, more particularly, the submission of the Petitioners that if the malls and market places, barbershops, spas, salons, beauty parlors, liquor shops, etc. can be operated with certain restrictions, why the Jain devotees should not be allowed to visit the places of worship to offer prayers and/or to perform rituals with similar restrictions, submit its say to this Court on 13th August 2020. Stand over to 13th August 2020.”
In accordance with the said order the Secretary, Disaster Management, Relief, and Rehabilitation stated that 5, 35, 601 people are affected by COVID - 19 and 18,306 died due to this. the total number of infected cases have been found to be 1,25,224 and in Mumbai City, Mumbai Suburban District, Thane, Palghar and Raigad District, which are part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Area (‘MMR Area’), the number of infected cases is 272,104 and the total number of deaths registered on account of COVID-19 is 10962. In Pune District, the total number of infected cases have been found to be 1,16,646, and the total number of deaths registered on account of COVID-19 is 2824.
This means that Mumbai is the epicenter of COVID- 19. The State Government has taken many precautionary measures in order to tackle the situation like avoiding overcrowdedness in streets and other public places. In view of the order dated 8th June 2020 a Standard Operating Procedure will be adopted and the States and Union Territories are directed to analyze the situation and act accordingly while following the social distancing norms.
In the State of Maharashtra both in urban and rural areas, a conscious policy decision will continue to be implemented for prohibiting people from religious congregations and closing the places of worship.
These norms have been adopted in festivals like Easter Sunday, Mahavir Jayanti Buddha Purnima, Raksha Bandhan, Dahi Handi, and many other festivals that are gone. The Contention of the Petitioners is that if the Malls, salons, spas, market places are accessible to the public, then why the places of worship are closed. A live example that proves that opening of temples is a threat is the Tirumala Tirupati Balaji Temple in Andhra Pradesh where as many as 743 employees of the Tirupati Temple have tested positive for COVID-19.
In view of the aforesaid reasons, the Bombay High Court relied upon the decision of the Secretary, Disaster Management, Relief and Rehabilitation that the places of worship shall remain close as public health is the paramount consideration of the State. There can be no compromise with the health of people. Therefore, the Court ordered that the temples of the Jain Community shall not be opened between 15 August to 23 August 2020. The Court said,’ God is within us, God is everywhere’.
However, the petition is not disposed of as the norms are till 31st August and so the next date of hearing is fixed for 7th September 2020.
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