SC refuses urgent hearing on plea seeking reopening of historic Baidyanath temple in Jharkhand

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to accord urgent hearing on a plea seeking a direction to the Jharkhand government to consider reopening of historic Baba Baidyanath Jyotirlinga Temple at Deoghar for devotees as entries were restricted due to COVID-19 protocol.A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose said that there was no urgency to hear the plea and moreover, the entire world is suffering from the pandemic.Why should we give priority to this.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to accord urgent hearing on a plea seeking a direction to the Jharkhand government to consider reopening of historic Baba Baidyanath Jyotirlinga Temple at Deoghar for devotees as entries were restricted due to COVID-19 protocol.

A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose said that there was no urgency to hear the plea and moreover, the entire world is suffering from the pandemic.

“Why should we give priority to this. When the whole world is suffering, you want to reopen,” the bench said.

Lawyer Prashant Kumar, appearing for the petitioner, said that the number of Covid cases in Jharkhand was very low and the temple can be considered for reopening for two months during ‘Shravani Mela’.

''Yes, yes, there is no COVID you know,'' the CJI said while disallowing the submission seeking urgent listing of the petition.

Baba Baidyanath Jyotirlinga Temple is one of the twelve ‘jyotirlingas’ of Lord Shiva and is located in Deoghar district of Jharkhand state.

Earlier on July 31, last year, the top court had told the state government to consider reopening of the historic temple complex.

The apex court was then of the view that since the country was reopening now, at least on important occasions Temples, Mosques, Churches and other religious places should also be opened. It had refused to interfere with the Jharkhand High Court order of July 3, 2020 passed on a plea of BJP MP Nishikant Dubey by which it has rejected the prayer for allowing reopening of both the historic temples and holding of annual ''Shravani Mela'' in Deoghar and instead allowing virtual ‘Darshan’. However, the bench had asked the Jharkhand High Court to consider reopening of the temples as the country is now reopening.