Supreme Court Extends Interim Stay On Kanwar Yatra Order—All About It

The Supreme Court on Friday (26 July) extended the interim order staying the directives of the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments to the eateries along the Kanwar yatra route to display the names of the owners and the staff.

The stay order will continue till 5 August, the next date of hearing, Livelaw reported.

The Supreme Court bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti was hearing the petitions filed by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights, TMC MP Mahua Moitra, Professor Apoorvanand and columnist Aakar Patel against the directives of the UP and Uttarakhand governments.

The UP government had on Thursday (25 July) filed an affidavit in which is it said that “the idea behind” it was “transparency and informed choice of the consumer/Kanwaria regarding the food they eat during the period of the Yatra, keeping in mind their religious sentiments so that they don’t, even accidentally, fall foul of their beliefs” as “such situations would obviously lead to flare ups where lakhs and crores of people are walking barefoot carrying holy water”.

The affidavit also pointed out that “in the past week itself, there have been flareups and altercations on the…Yatra route with respect to onions and garlic being served at the eateries”.

The state said that “it is obvious that for the crores of such pilgrims, many of whom are not literate, and who are walking barefoot with religious fervour, even small confusions regarding the kind of food they are served, has the potential to hurt their religious sentiments and cause flare ups, especially in a communally sensitive area like Muzaffarnagar”.

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