A two-judge Bench comprising of Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh, while hearing a petition seeking quashing of an FIR registered under Section 188 and 269 of the IPC, against the Petitioners, observed the necessity of every person to be mindful and conscious about the veracity of the situation we are in due to the outbreak of Coronavirus in India.
The petitioners were distributing meals to the poor in their locality when a bunch of people collected at the spot of distribution. Petitioners had submitted that they made efforts to disburse them but still a FIR had been filed against them for violating the protocol of social distancing during the nationwide lockdown.The Court also noted that there is no allegation of any unfortunate incident had not been occurred at the place.
Covid-19 positive cases are surging in India at the speed of light making it important for every person to observe the social distancing norms formulated by the authorities, prudently.
The bench of Allahabad High Court asserted that “It is the responsibility of each and every person to be aware of the protocol and see that others follow it strictly.”
The Court while observing that putting the violators of social distancing norms in jail and lockup which are already overcrowded will aggravate the crisis, advised the Agra Police to create awareness and consciousness amongst people about the importance of social distancing in this collective fight against COVID-19.
The Bench passed an order for release of the Petitioners till the submission of the police report by Agra Police under Section 173(2), CrPC and directed the Petitioners to submit an undertaking that they will follow all norms and protocol of Covid-19 and will not breach them in future.
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