SC Questions Centre: What is Being Done to Protect The Protesting Farmers from Covid-19?

Delhi, January 7, 2021: The Supreme Court (SC) today questioned the central government as to what guidelines have been implemented to ensure that the protesting farmers on Delhi’s borders do not spread corona. The question was raised by the Supreme Court during the hearing of a petition filed regarding the gathering during the Tablighi Markaz in Nizamuddin, Delhi in March last year. The Supreme Court expressed concern that a similar situation should not arise in the crowds of farmers standing on the borders of Delhi. The Supreme Court has given the center 2 weeks to respond to this.

Despite the corona related rules enforced in March last year, a corona-explosion like situation arose following the gathering of people during the Tablighi Jamaat in Nizamuddin, Delhi. Hundreds of people were found to be Corona positive and investigations into the case are still underway.

A three-judge bench asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, “A similar situation can also arise during farmers’ protest. We do not know if farmers are being protected from Corona. What guidelines have you issued to prevent corona from spreading? Have you learned nothing from the Jamaat experience?”

Tushar Mehta, on behalf of the government, told the court that investigation into the Jamaat case is still going on. He asked for a period of two weeks in the case of the protesting farmers and their safety. The Supreme Court bench raised the question during a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Jammu and Kashmir advocate Supriya Pandita seeking a CBI probe into the Jamaat case.

The petition has sought to prevent further cases like Jamaat so that it does not harm the health of the general public. Pandita’s lawyer OP Parihar, on the JAmaat case, said that its chief, Maulana Saad has not been arrested yet. On this, the Supreme Court bench said that “we are not interested in any one man. Our interest is in issuing guidelines regarding Covid and implementing them.”

Thousands of people were found in Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz after the nationwide lockdown caused by Corona last year. Around 2000 people from all over India and abroad gathered and those who had left from there hid in different districts of the country.