Supreme Court seeks response from the Center on a petition seeking reopening of religious places

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Center on a petition seeking to open all religious places across the country. Significantly, due to the coronavirus epidemic, religious places across the country are closed or restricted to access. The court has issued notices to the central and state governments on this petition.

A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde issued notice to the Ministry of Home Affairs on the petition of 'Githarth Ganga Trust', Ahmedabad, seeking to open a place of worship in the country. In the hearing held through video conferencing, the bench said that we are only issuing notice to explore the possibility. The bench also consisted of Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.

The trust filed the petition through advocate Surjeendu Shankar Das. The Trust is also a Religious Research Institute. The petition filed in the court stated that this petition has been filed under Articles 14, 19 (1) (a) and (b), 25, 26, and 21, with the sole purpose of protecting and guaranteeing fundamental rights. Residents of India in particular are demanding the opening of places of worship / religious places across India, which are currently banned by many states.