New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to grant priority listing for a plea seeking reopening of the Baba Baidyanath temple in Jharkhand’s Deoghar city.
An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana said that there was no urgency to hear the plea since the whole world is suffering from Covid-19.
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“Why should we give priority to this? The whole world is suffering,” said CJI Ramana.
Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Prashant Kumar said the Covid numbers are low in Jharkhand.
“Yes, yes, there is no Covid you know,” CJI Ramana responded while disallowing the mentioning for urgent listing, Bar and Bench reported.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Deoghar, Narayan Das, reached the Jharkhand Assembly premises with a ‘damru’ in his hand and demanded reopening of the temple in his constituency.
Talking to the media, Das said “Baba Baidyanath Dham is not only a center of faith for Deoghar, but the country”.
“The temple also provides employment. I have come to warn the government again to immediately open the temple or else continuous protests will take place in Deoghar after the session,” he added, ANI reported.
Earlier on Monday, Jharkhand’s Agriculture Minister Badal Patralekh met Chief Minister Hemant Soren and handed him a request letter urging him to open the Baidyanath temple and other prominent places of worship in the state.