Plea In SC Seeks Direction To Avoid Coercive Action Against Trivial Offences For Violation Of Lockdown [Read Application]

The IA has been filed in Writ Petition which prays for the quashing of FIRs registered under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code as well as other trivial offences which have surfaced during, and/or as a result of the violation of the national lockdown.

The Petition, filed by Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC), attempted to bring to the notice of the court that thousands of illegal FIRs had been registered during the lockdown. The IA, filed by Advocate Sachin Mittal on behalf of Dr. Vikram Singh, Chairman of CASC seeks to portray the unnecessary burden on the courts and the police officers as a consequence of the illegal arrests.

The IA states that due to the ambiguous definition of "lockdown", the role of the police has gained importance for the maintenance of law and order. While arrest is inevitable in cases of heinous crimes and serious offences, which includes "systemic and organized violation of lockdown by certain groups", trivial offences needs to be exempted.

The IA goes on to elaborate the two kinds of trivial offences:

"…the first kind where only complaint is permissible, and the second kind which are acted through FIR".

It is submitted in the IA that no FIR should be lodged and no arrests should be made in any trivial offence in the name of the violation of lockdown. The IA also alludes to excessive police force being used which, in some instances, has led to the loss of lives. It further states that the arrests will only increase the burden on the administrative authorities such as police and other public services.

"That any arrest will only increase the burden of police, as it will have to deal with keeping the accused in lock-up, bail formalities, producing the accused before the Magistrate and other related things. Along with the doctors, the police and all public services are the frontline, and they should not be burdened with tasks, which are futile and a waste of time and resource".

The IA also brings up the issue of high risk of transmission of COVID-19 to the prison inmates and refers to the Suo Motu Writ Petition (Civil) 1/2020 which held the same. Therefore, congregation of people inside the police lock-up or jail "drastically increases the chances of spreading of the COVID-19 infection and thereby defeating the very objective of the lockdown".

While stating that the Petitioner is in no manner suggesting a violation of the lockdown, the IA submits that "the lockdown as a concept is not sacrosanct and is subject to different relaxations". For instance, the State of UP sent 250 buses to bring back students who had been stranded in Kota, Rajasthan.

"For all such violations, no warning or action is taken against the State government under Art. 256 of the Constitution. Then how can police FIR, Arrest and brutality be allowed against the common people for trivial violations of lockdown".

The Petitioner concludes by asserting that the imposition of lockdown should allow for relaxations in the matter of arrests and that people who do not have any mens rea should not be labelled as criminal.

"The zeal of arresting violators for innocuous offences will do more harm than any good".

In light of the above, in order to combat unjustified excesses of the police and to prevent any burden on public authorities, the IA prays for no coercive action to be taken for trivial offences for violation of lockdown.

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