Fresh plea in HC against ban on public entry to religious places
Cuttack: A petition filed in the Orissa high court has challenged the ban the state government has imposed on opening of temples, gurudwaras, mosques and churches for the public till September 30.
Jayant Kumar Bal, a resident of Cuttack city, filed the petition seeking intervention against the restriction the state government has imposed on opening up of religious places and places of worship for the public in its August 31 order.
Jayant was one of the petitioners who had earlier filed two PILs seeking opening of the Jagannath Temple in Puri and other religious places in the state for the public. The PILs were disposed of on August 10.
In the petition filed afresh on Monday, Jayant has alleged that the state government’s restriction in the August 31 order reflected non-compliance of the high court’s August 10 order.
In the August 10 order the court had said, “While not issuing any general direction, this court deems it appropriate to require the state government to examine the grievance of the petitioners, keeping in view the observations of the Supreme Court in the July 31, 2020 order related to Jharkhand and take a decision as it may deem appropriate, depending on the situation prevalent, from place to place and time to time, with regard to the entry of public in different places of worship in the state of Odisha, by adhering to the norms of social distancing and use of masks and sanitizer etc.”
On July 31, 2020, the Supreme Court had said, “The state cannot shirk from its responsibility to enforce social distancing norms, particularly when there is opening up of such places throughout the world. As the state government has to make proper arrangements, we refrain from issuing a direction to the state government; however, we earnestly request them to find out a possibility of limited entry of the general public in temples, churches and mosques in the state.”
The petition had sought the Supreme Court’s direction to the state of Jharkhand and the central government to open Baba Baidhyanath Jyotirlinga Temple in Deoghar and Baba Basukinath Temple in Basukinath to the public.
EoM