Supreme Court declines permission for the violent festival Muharram’s processions across India

Refusing permission for Muharram processions in the country over the weekend, the Supreme Court today said it would lead to chaos and “one particular community will be targeted” for spreading the coronavirus.

“If we allow this procession across the country there will be chaos and one particular community will be targeted for spreading the pandemic COVID-19,” Chief Justice SA Bobde said.

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 Chief Justice said, “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.”

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.”

The Supreme Court spoke about the difficulty of blanket permission for the country and said even the state governments were not party to the petition.

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.