The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra government to clarify its stand on reopening places of worship amid the coronavirus-enforced lockdown in the state.
A bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta was hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by a city-based NGO seeking that the state reopen temples and permit limited number of devotees at a time to enter the temples.
The court directed Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni to file an affidavit clarifying the state's stand over it.
Kumbhakoni, however, told HC that on August 12, the state filed a reply before another bench of the court saying it did not intend to open any place of worship currently as it would pose an imminent risk of spread of coronavirus.
While the above reply was filed in a petition seeking specifically that Jain temples be allowed to open for devotees to mark the ongoing festival of Paryushan, the state maintained the same stand on opening of any place of worship, "irrespective of its religion," Kumbhakoni said.
The petitioner NGO's lawyer, Dipesh Siroya, argued that the Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh was opened for devotees despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The Tirupati temple is much larger than any of the temples in Maharashtra and receives a large number of devotees. Still it has been opened for public. Maharashtra can also frame guidelines to open temples and regulate devotees entering them," Siroya said.
The bench, therefore, directed the state to file a separate affidavit addressing the issue raised in the present petition.
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