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A Public Interest Litigation has been filed through e-filing before the Supreme Court of India seeking appropriate directions/guidelines/instructions to the government as well as police authority and common public to regulate the movement of people in the present lockdown situation.
In the PIL filed by lawyer Amit Goyal, it is stated that a specific instruction is the immediate need of the hour as there is news that police beat a person to death in West Bengal when he had gone to buy milk.[1]
The petitioner is represented by Supreme Court lawyer Kaushik Chaudhury who is assisted by Pritam Baruah.
The petition, while seeking appropriate directions, contended that due to circulation of various videos where police are seen beating people and also due to publication of several news items of police beating any member of the public seen outside, it is felt that in the absence of proper instructions and guidelines everyone including the police are clueless as to how to proceed further in this situation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on 23 March that the entire country would be put under lockdown[2] and all the services were suspended immediately after mid-night. This left many delivery services and vendors of essential services unprepared, leading to confusion and clashes between police and their staff in many areas. The daily wage workers, who work in different cities were forced to move due to the closing of the firms of their employer, these hungry workers are facing various challenges of accommodation, many of the workers are from outside the city/state and have to travel thousands of kms to reach a safe place.
The petition mention that at present there is no such guidelines or instructions from the concerned Government Department as to how the public can meet their basic necessities as well as how to cope with a medical emergency situation since the police officers/personnel are seen beating people whoever is seen on road without even asking the cause, which is in violation to Article 21[3] of the Constitution of India.
The petitioner has also acknowledged the gravity of situation due to corona outbreak and applauds the efforts put by the doctors and other medical staffs, police department, bankers, Court Officials etc. who are risking their lives for the service of the nation and its public. However, it is felt that due to not having proper instructions and guidelines everyone including the Police persons are clueless of how to proceed further in this situation and accordingly, the present petition is filed seeking appropriate directions.
It is further stated in the PIL that the petitioner being resident of Guwahati has just got the information that on 27.3.2020 after 3 days lockdown, in some areas vegetable shops were opened and huge gathering of public was seen in such areas to purchase vegetable and there was no follow up of any social distancing norms and surprisingly, the police was seen being totally silent at this stage quite opposite to what they were doing for last 3 days. This action somehow frustrated the entire purpose of lockdown and if no immediate instructions comes out qua the movement of public to meet their necessities in a systematic manner, there will be a massive problem which India will face in near future. This incident clearly demonstrated that the police authority is choosing the easier option to beat single person seen on the road but are not willing to control a huge gathering where the actual effort is required. So, considering the entirety of the situation, since it has become need of the hour to find out a solution to control and properly activate systematic public movement to meet the necessities of the common mass.
The petition also mentions some suggestions which are:
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