09 ,April 2020
The entire world is going through a pandemic which had never happened or even thought of
before. With the outbreak of the pandemic causing, Corona Virus a lot of chaos can be
witnessed globally. The deadly virus that originated from China spread to the world with the
blink of an eye and did global destruction. Since the death toll is rising at an alarming
rate, the panic amongst the general public is increasing also to make it very difficult for
the government around the world to handle. It is well known that since we don't have any
vaccine to cure COVID-19, we can only practice precautions as advised by
the World Health Organization (WHO) to stay away from the virus. Self-isolation, being
quarantined, maintaining social distancing, practising personal hygiene are the only ways as
of now to prevent the spread of the virus. We have already witnessed how COVID-19 has made
the government of the most developed nation, helpless. It is high time we Indians realize
that with a population of over 1.3 billion, illiteracy, poor hygiene practiced by many,
scarcity of the medical help, and most importantly adamant nature of some Indians if we
don't follow the guidelines of WHO rigorously the condition of India can be
worse than that of Italy. When the cases started rising in India as well, the Indian
government tried its first card to combat the virus by announcing a one day Janta Curfew on
22nd March 2020 which was strictly adhered to quite an extend. Following the Janta Curfew,
the Central Government announced a 21-day lockdown in the entire nation with an effort to
fight against the Corona Virus. But people started taking the lockdown very lightly, they,
were not staying quarantined, there were long lines outside shops because people started
panic buying while there were a few who took the lockdown period as a vacation or a holiday
to party.
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It is seen some people don’t value their lives, their family’s lives, keep
aside the nation and roam around freely. There is an urgent need to educate the Indians of
the seriousness of the situation ,and the best way is to make them aware of the laws related
to COVID-19 and let them know the consequences they can face for breaking the rules of the
lockdown.
Here are a few laws related to COVID-19 that should be
known to all citizens of India.
A) Section 271 of
the Indian Penal Code, 1860 - “Disobedience to quarantine rule. This
section clearly says that whosoever disobeys the quarantine rule shall be punished with
imprisonment or fine or both.
B) Section 269 of the Indian Penal Code,
1860 -
“Negligent act likely to spread infection of disease
dangerous to life. This section applies to those who negligently act to spread the
virus. They shall be penalized with imprisonment or fine or both.
C)
Section 270 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860- “Malignant act likely to
spread infection of disease dangerous to life. This law is for those who know the
consequence of their actions could lead to the spread of the virus and still choose to do
such an act shall be penalized.
D) The Epidemic Disease Act,
1897- Power to take special measures and prescribe regulations as a
too dangerous epidemic disease.
(1) When at any time the [State
Government] is satisfied that [the State] or any part thereof is visited by, or threatened
with, an outbreak of any dangerous epidemic disease, the [State Government], if [it] thinks
that the ordinary provisions of the law for the time being in force are insufficient for the
purpose, may take, or require or empower any person to take, such measures and, by public
notice, prescribe such temporary regulations to be observed by the public or by any person
or class of persons as [it] shall deem necessary to prevent the outbreak of such disease or
the spread thereof, and may determine in what manner and by whom any expenses incurred
(including compensation if any) shall be defrayed.
(2) In particular
and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions, the [State Government]
may take measures and prescribe regulations for
(b) The
inspection of persons travelling by railway or otherwise, and the segregation, in hospital,
temporary accommodation or otherwise, of persons suspected by the inspecting officer of
being infected with any such disease.
[2A. Powers of Central
Government.— When the Central Government is satisfied that India or any
part thereof is visited by, or threatened with, an outbreak of any dangerous epidemic
disease and that the ordinary provisions of the law for the time being in force are
insufficient to prevent the outbreak of such disease or the spread thereof, the Central
Government may take measures and prescribe regulations for the inspection of any ship or
vessel leaving or arriving at any port in 2 [the territories to which this Act extends] and
for such detention thereof, or of any person intending to sail therein, or arriving thereby,
as may be necessary.]
(3)Penalty.—Any person disobeying any
regulation or order made under this Act shall be deemed to have committed an offense
punishable under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of
1860).
(4)Protection to persons acting under Act.—No suit or
other legal proceedings shall lie against any person for anything done or in good faith
intended to be done under this Act
E) Section 188 of Indian Penal Code - “Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code prescribes punishment for disobeying an order duly promulgated by a public servant.” The above-mentioned law is for those defaulters who disobey the orders of the public servants and roan around aimlessly during the lockdown.
F) Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code “Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) imposes power to the executive magistrate to restrict particular or a group of persons residing in a particular area while visiting a certain place or area.” The most important preventive measure against corona is safeguarded by this section that restricts to a gathering of people and thus in a way supports social distancing.
G) Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 During this time of
global crisis, the citizens need to know what counts as essential commodities and what items
are to be avoided.
H) Schedule 1 of the Essential services act
provides a list of services in the category of essential that would we provided during the
period of lockdown. The central government has allowed the flow of essential services during
the lockdown thus it becomes extremely necessary for us to know what services are covered as
essential in the act.
I) Disaster Management Act, 2005 &
National Disaster Management Guidelines, 2008 deals with the management of biological
disasters.
While there is a list of laws related to COVID-19, we as responsible
citizens need to realize that these laws are made for our betterment only and if we realize
the seriousness of the ongoing crisis there would be no need to implement strict laws
against the defaulters. The defaulters here are not just risking their lives but the lives
of the nation as a whole. Time and again we are told to stay quarantined yet the police have
to work on double shifts to penalize the defaulters. It is high time we take COVID-19 as a
very serious issue and cooperate with the government to help not make India the second
Italy.
Author
Shivangi Bajpai