Supreme Court on Friday has allowed the Jain devotees to offer religious prayers in three Jain temples in Mumbai amid COVID-19.
Top court bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde has permitted devotees to visit Jain temples at Dadar, Byculla, and Chembur on the occasion of Prayushan and said, “We direct the petitioners shall follow the SOP.”
The bench has clarified that the court will not grant permission to any other temple in the Mumbai.
While hearing the PIL, the apex court bench noted that it is strange that the government has allowed all the commercial activities but only denying the religious activities and festivals citing COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
“The permission was not a precedent for demand of permission for Ganpati festival or any other upcoming religious festivals. Permission for Ganpati festival will have to be taken on a case-to-case basis from the Maharashtra Disaster Management Authority,” stated the bench.
The bench was hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed against Bombay High Court order which stated that it didn’t wish to interfere with the state’s decision of not to permit Mumbai’s Jain temples to open for devotees to mark the eight-day Paryushan festival from August 15 to August 23 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
