JOIN USGujarat: Police sat for a month indecisively, govt rushed HC in last hour to hold Rath Yatra
The Ahmedabad police sat on an application moved by the temple authority seeking permission to take out annual Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra, one of the biggest religious events in the state, and held rounds of meeting with the trustees and other stakeholders discussing coronavirus outbreak in the city and its likely effect if permission was granted. It was only after the Supreme Court, on June 20, declined the Odisha government to take out a similar rath yatra there, the city police finally rejected the application of the trust.
On the basis of the apex court's order, the Gujarat High Court also barred the temple authority from taking out the yatra in Ahmedabad which was supposed to be held on June 23. Although the apex court again reviewed its order on June 22 and allowed the event to be held in Odisha. This prompted an NGO to move the high court seeking similar relief for the yatra in Ahmedabad and elsewhere in the state. The court rejected the petition on the ground that the NGO didn't have any local standing. Hours later, the Advocate General Kamal Trivedi on behalf of state government along with several other temple trustees moved court on an urgent basis seeking permission to carry out "symbolic yatra."
The hearing was held at 2 AM, barely a few hours before the morning ritual of the yatra, in which the court again declined to permit the event citing rising coronavirus cases. While rejecting the clutch of petitions, the high court sought explanation from the the Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Home, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Police Commissioner the "reasons and circumstances why application was not disposed of well within time and keeping the matter looming at large till the end and then compelling the parties to rush to the court for urgent circulation." The temple trust had moved the application on May 18, more than a month before the date of yatra.
AMC Commissioner Mukesh Kumar and ACS (home) Sangeeta Singh have said in their affidavits that application for permission was not sent to their departments and such issues are dealt with at police commissioner office which gives or rejects such permissions. Kumar has said that his office didn't get any such letter while Singh stated that "around 16.06.2020, I was informally given to understand by Shivanand Jha, Director General of Police of the State of Gujarat, that before expressly declining the permission to the Respondent No.5 Trust (Temple), the Commissioners of Police, Heads of Range and the Superintendents of Police are coordinating with the temple authorities, organizers, religious leaders connected with Jagannath Rath Yatra to arrive at a consensus regarding cancellation or symbolic celebration in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. In view of this, it appears that a series of meetings with temple authorities, organizers, religious leaders connected with Shri Jagannath Rath Yatra in Ahmedabad City and other places were held."
The affidavit filed by police commissioner Ashish Bhatia states that after his office received the letter and accordingly opinions were sought from police officers from the areas falling in the route of the yatra. The officers opined that there were 2060 infected persons in these localities and 171 had died from the virus. These reports were received between June 3 and June 6. Bhatia reported to Additional Director General of Police. He has said that he had suggested to refuse permission as there would not be any adherence to maintaining social distancing and besides, over 24,000 policemen would have been needed for the safety of the procession.
Interestingly, the commissioner's office sent the DGP a letter "for sanctioning expenditure likely to be incurred on ensuing yatra in the event it is permitted on any reason whatsoever." Meanwhile, it was only after the Supreme Court order's order came on June 20, the temple authority, according to the affidavit, was denied permission.