North America: People across North America are gearing up to witness the one of the most exciting celestial event of 2024. On April 8, a rare total solar eclipse is going to occur and the most exciting part is that the Americans across 13 states in the country will be able to witness the sky go completely dark in day time. This solar eclipse is extra special as the next one will occur in the year 2044 in the US. 

The event is so rare that prisoners in New York have  filed a lawsuit demanding right to watch the eclipse. The lawsuit comes in the aftermath of state corrections department declaration in March that  “there will be no incarcerated movement in facilities from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., and incarcerated individuals will remain in housing units except for emergency situations.”

Six prisoners of different religious backgrounds filed the lawsuit at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility. The plaintiffs stated that the prison lockdown on April 8 is violative of their constitutional rights to practice their faith. The lockdown is preventing them to practices their faith in the religiously significant event. 

“A solar eclipse is a rare, natural phenomenon with great religious significance to many,” the lawsuit says," per The Guardian. 

The plaintiffs include a Baptist, a Muslim, a Seventh-Day Adventist and two practitioners of Santería, as well as an atheist, who received special permission to watch the eclipse using protective glasses before the lockdown was imposed.

Rest of the plaintiffs also sought permission to witness the rare event on religious grounds but were either denied on grounds of solar eclipse not being considered as a holy event or never got a response. Inmates also stated  that the lockdown hours are usually the time for outdoor recreation. 

The lawsuit further pointed that in 2017, no such lockdown was imposed during the eclipse.