The Supreme Court on Thursday has refused to give permission for carrying out Muharram procession amid fear of Covid-19 spread. As per SC, a common direction would lead to chaos and a particular community might get accused of spreading the infection to one another.
SC bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian suggested Syed Kalbe Jawad, leader of Lucknow based Shia community to move the Allahabad High Court seeking permission to hold a limited prayer for procession in Lucknow.
“You are asking for general order and then if we allow this there will be chaos. A particular community will be targeted for spreading COVID. We don’t want that. We as a court cannot risk the health of all the people,” said the bench, which heard the matter through video conferencing.
Muharram is observed by Shia Muslims to pay obeisance to Imam Hussain, who was killed in the Battle of Karbala. This year Muharram will be celebrated on August 29.