Ensure that it does not become a rock concert, said the Bombay high court on Monday as it declined to interfere with an order disallowing celebrities to take part in a Chhath Puja event on Juhu Beach on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The court heard a petition by former MP Sanjay Nirupam’s Bihari Front to cancel two conditions imposed by the suburban collector while granting it permission for the religious event.
One condition was that no celebrity should be invited on the stage for entertainment programmes, while the other was that no barricades should be erected to create a dry zone on the beach.
Bihari Front advocate Anirudh Garge argued that ‘celebrity’ was a vague concept and not clearly defined. He said only former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar had been invited.
A bench of Justice S C Dharmadhikari and Justice B P Colabawalla said the collector’s order required no clarification as there was a difference between the dignitary, Kumar, and a popular performance artiste.
Garge said Kumar was not a celebrity. “She may be a celebrity but not a popular performing artiste,” said Justice Dharmadhikari, adding that those who create problems were not such dignitaries as Meira Kumar.
The judges also said if popular artistes perform people will be present in large numbers and if they appreciate a performance they would like to meet the performer. “Songs like full-fledged orchestra does not go with the occasion. See that bhajans and devotional songs do not become a rock concert,” said Justice Dharmadhikari.
In its order, the bench said the collector’s November 10 letter to the Bihari Front amply clarifies that conditions have been imposed in the larger public interest to avoid untoward incidents such as a stampede.
It also clarified that traditional bhajans and devotional songs could be recited and performances could be organized but cautioned that in its garb if any popular performance artiste took part in the function, it may cease to be a purely religious and solemn occasion.