The mood was subdued with roads deserted across large swathes of the Valley, the silence broken only by police sirens and Indian Air Force helicopters hovering overhead.
The Centre on Friday opposed before the Delhi high court fully re-opening the Nizamuddin Markaz, where the Tablighi Jamaat congregation was held in March 2020 amid COVID-19 pandemic and has remained shut since then, stating that a few people may be allowed to offer prayers on the upcoming religious occasions.
While people gathered at Lucknow's Gomti riverfront, the Ganga banks in Varanasi and Patna were abuzz with devotees, keeping the COVID-19 protocols at bay.
Since the yatra began, as many as 28 tourists en route to Kedarnath have died due to various reasons.
The 10-day-long annual Ganesh Chaturthi festival began on a low-key note on Friday with several state governments prohibiting public celebrations due to the Covid pandemic and devotees taking the virtual route to pay obeisance and join the festivities.
The Election Commission on Wednesday said it was unanimous that there should not be any prayer before the Supreme Court for restriction on media reporting over oral observations made by judges.
Aim to get at least 8 hours of sleep during every 24-hour period, even if this is accumulated over several separate periods of rest.
Protests broke out in some states on Friday, including Delhi's Jama Masjid and stone-petling at policemen in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj and Saharanpur, over the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad by two now-suspended Bharatiya Janata Party functionaries with demonstrators in Jharkhand injuring a few policemen while authorities in Jammu imposed a curfew in few areas and parts of Kashmir observed a shutdown.
The move comes days after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's directive for restricting the volume of loudspeakers at religious places in order to avoid trouble to people living nearby.
Major mosques and idghas, which see tens of thousands of people offering namaz on Eid and then embracing each other, remained mostly empty perhaps for the first time on the festival as the government has prohibited all kinds of religious gatherings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Special judge Vikas Dhull issued a notice to Tihar jail authorities on Jain's plea and directed the prison officials to file their reply by Thursday when the court will hear the matter.
This is the first time when the civic body has asked for closure of meat shops during Navratri which is being observed from April 2-11.
The Karnataka high court, which dismissed a batch of petitions by some Muslim girls from Udupi seeking permission to wear the hijab inside classrooms of educational institutions, framed the entire case in the form of four questions and answered them accordingly.
Calcutta High Court ordered setting up of a committee which may recommend to the state a ban on entry to Sagar Island if there is any violation of health safety norms.
There have been over 300 attacks against Christians and their churches and prayer halls, primarily in northern India, states Aakar Patel.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the district magistrate, Varanasi, to ensure protection of the area where the 'Shivling' was said to have been found in a survey on Monday.
Security deployment remained in vulnerable areas and mobile and internet services were yet to be restored in most parts of the Valley 48 days after the Centre abrogated Article 370 provisions of the Constitution.
Abdullah's sister Suraiya, his daughter Safiya and 11 other women furnished a personal bond of Rs 10,000 and surety of Rs 40,000 each under section 107 of criminal procedure code, giving an assurance that they would maintain peace, the officials said.
Many faithful preferred offering 'namaaz' at their homes than visiting mosques.
Internet services, however, were restored in the district after nearly 33 hours, Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Chhavi Ranjan said.
The deity and two others idols will be shifted to a temporary structure nearby till the planned construction of a Ram temple is completed on the site, allotted for it by the Supreme Court in a landmark verdict in November. The special prayers began amid restrictions forced upon the organisers by the coronavirus threat.
The daily COVID-19 cases have been recorded at less than one lakh for the last 11 consecutive days.
A tab was kept on visiting pilgrims through CCTV cameras to ensure there was no violation of COVID-19 protocol.
While weightlifter Mirabai Chanu bagged silver, badminton star PV Sindhu and boxing legend Lovlina won bronze in the Tokyo Olympics. The trio graced the cover of the latest edition of the leading fashion magazine.
The annual festival dedicated to the Sun god will be celebrated on Friday and Saturday by people who originally hail from north India and are residing in the metropolis. In the past, the festival used to see large number of people thronging prominent beaches, river banks and other water bodies to make offerings to the Sun god at sunrise and sunset.
All the market places and shops reopened and traffic has resumed as normal in all these districts bringing much relief to the people.
The 10-day Ganesh festival began on Saturday under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, with devotees restricting celebrations to their homes and using online platforms to get 'darshan' of the Lord at temples, amid strict COVID-19 restrictions imposed by governments.
The relaxations will come into effect from Tuesday morning, said a government order.
Religious places including mosques have been closed for over a month now. And with clerics advising all to stay home and social distancing becoming the norm, people are unable to get together for prayers and Iftar, a ritual of breaking fast every evening, that are a key part of Islam's holiest month.
This year is expected to be an extremely low-key Ramzan with social-distancing imposed across the world, including Saudi Arabia which is home to Islam's holiest shrines.
The officials said that the situation remained peaceful across the valley on Saturday and no untoward incident was reported from anywhere.
The Karnataka high court on Tuesday dismissed petitions filed by a section of Muslim students from the Government Pre-University Girls College in Udupi, seeking permission to wear the hijab inside the classroom.
The city's main mosque will have a section especially dedicated to the women.
The 91-year-old was buried at a mosque near his residence according to his wishes, his close aides said.
While the administration has imposed strict restrictions on immersion of Ganesh idols in all cities, devotees were seen taking one last glimpse of Lord Ganesha on the last day of the ten-day-long Ganesh Chaturthi.
It is the first annual pilgrimage season at the hill temple after the coronavirus outbreak and authorities have decided to restrict the number of devotees to 1,000 per day and to 2,000 on weekends.
The devotees from Rajasthan and neighbouring states had been waiting at the temple premises in several queues to seek darshan on the occasion of 'Gyaras', an auspicious day as per Hindu calendar.
Aishwarya, 46 and eight-year-old Aaradhya were diagnosed with coronavirus on Sunday, a day after the actor's father-in-law, megastar Amitabh Bachchan, and husband Abhishek Bachchan tested positive for the COVID-19.
The passenger who had the medical emergency could not be revived and was declared dead on arrival by the airport medical team, IndiGo said in a statement.
'I remember how my grandmother was scared for me when I joined the industry because she was aware of the hurdles and pitfalls.' 'It's a harsh place.' 'When the going is good, it's great, but you really have to have the spirit to deal with the situation when the chips are down.'
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