The Apex Court is hearing a bunch of pleas seeking modification in its order in which it had stayed Lord Jagannath’s famous Rath Yatra in Odisha.
The Centre told the Supreme Court that annual Rath Yatra can be held without public participation keeping in view the Coronavirus pandemic.
At least a dozen applicants, including one by Janardhan Pattajoshi Mohapatra, who is the hereditary Chief servitor of Lord Jagannatha of the Jagannatha Temple, had approached the Supreme Court seeking modification of its June 18 order.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sambit Patra has also filed a similar petition before the Top Court. He prayed that the Rath Yatra should be allowed to be held without public participation. Patra submitted that the Rath Yatra can be conducted by employing the services of Lord Jagannath’s 800 sevayats, who are persons who perform the ritual services of Lord Jagannath & other deities at the Puri Jagannath temple.
Patra was hospitalised after he showed COVID-19 symptoms & later discharged.
On Thursday, the Court stayed the annual event & associated activities at the Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri in the wake of coronavirus pandemic. The yatra is scheduled to commence from June 23.
The Court order came on a petition filed by an NGO which had pointed out the health risk involved if the Rath Yatra is allowed at a time when Covid-19 is spreading rapidly across the country.
The NGO referred to the Tablighi Jamaat incident which was Muslim religious congregation held in mid-March at Nizamuddin area in Delhi resulting in a spurt in Covid-19 cases across the country after people from various parts of India & even foreign countries attended the event.
The Rath Yatra festival lasts for 10 to 12 days & involves a procession of chariots containing the deities Lord Jagannatha, his brother Lord Balabhadra & sister Devi Subhadra. The crowd pulling the chariots is very close to each other, which violates the social distancing norms during the times of Coronavirus.
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