The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to grant permission for carrying out Muharram processions across the country and asked the petitioner to move before the Allahabad High Court with his plea.
The top court maintained that how can it pass a general order for the whole country.
An apex court bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian said it would lead to chaos and targeting of a particular community.
“You are asking for a general order and then if we allow this there will be chaos. Particular community will be targetted for spreading Covid. We don’t want that. We as a court cannot risk the health of all the people,” the bench said.
The Supreme Court was hearing a petition by Syed Kalbe Jawad from Uttar Pradesh, who cited the June order permitting the Rath Yatra festival in Odisha.
“You are referring to the Puri Jagannath Rath Yatra, that was at one place and one set route. In that case we could assess the risk and pass orders. The difficulty is you are asking for a general order for the whole country,” said Chief Justice Bobde.
Justice Bobde went on to say, “We cannot risk the health of all people. If you had asked for one place, we could have assessed the risk.”
