Legal and social issues during corona world pandemic
: a study on indian laws
The corona world pandemic had made its entry in India and day by day the
number of infected cases are rising. If this trend continues India may soon reach
the point where authorities have to face some very serious legal ,social and
human issues . At this critical moment ,our PM modiji has provided remarkable
leadership in managing this grave world health crisis in India. I strive to throw
some light on the situation in which a country when facing a highly
communicable disease of the order of a world pandemic. A health hazard of
ominous proportions is looking India straight in the eye. In this situation our legal
and social system is strained because it has to face numerous painful dilemmas.
This pandemic raised issues like how much powers government has to restrain
the personal liberty of an individual in the name of controlling this pandemic ,
and what happens when a person dies under quarantine in the supervision of
doctors ? Further what happens if the medical staff doctors are committing
grave negligence in the treatment of patients and patient die of other reasons
than the covid -19 ?
To substantiate my arguments I must remind the readers that till date there is
no drug or vaccine is available to treat Covid -19 ,so this pandemic has to be
treated as a disease for which there is no cure available with the modern medical
science. In this scenario ,how much power should be delegated to the
administration and the medical staff in the name of controlling this disease is
debatable. What happens if a person is put to quarantine in isolation without
specific reliable data just on the basis of sneezing, coughing or fever ? What
happens if later on it is found that due to some other illness that persons is
showing these symptoms and during isolation person dies or becomes seriously
ill due to negligence of medical staff or wrong administration of treatment by
the doctor or fell victim to some crime. Then how would the liability is fixed in
those cases ?
Law relating to communicable diseases in India
In India there is already a law in place for checking the spread of dangerous
epidemic diseases. The epidemic diseases act of 1897 seeks better prevention
of the dangerous epidemic diseases in India. This act prescribes powers on both
the central and the state government to take steps outside the purview of
ordinary law for better prevention of dangerous epidemic diseases within the
entire territory of India and of that state respectively. This act gives special
powers to the government for isolation and quarantine of persons infected with
dangerous epidemic diseases and for not allowing any ship or vessel to leave any
port in India. This act also provides immunity from lawsuits to government
officials for any act done by them for checking the spread of dangerous epidemic
diseases. But this act is not adequate to deal with life threatening pandemic
diseases like covid-19 . Further, there is no provision for penalising the
government officials and medical staff ,doctors for negligence committed by
them during the spread of dangerous epidemic diseases. It only states that
persons violating the provisions of this act are liable for prosecution under Sec
188 IPC .
In our constitutional set up, there is separation of powers between the union
government and the state government. The seventh schedule of Article 246 of
the constitution lays down the arrangement of the matters of governance in to
the three lists . First, there is the union list with 99 subjects including foreign
affairs and foreign trade, custom duties and export duties .Then , there is a state
list with 61 subjects including health care. Finally there is a concurrent list with
52 subjects including ‘preventing the transmission of the contagious and
infectious diseases affecting humans ,plants and animals from one state to
another. Thus managing the health crisis of covid-19 is the responsibility of both
the centre and the states and no state can refuse to follow the directions of the
central government for the management of the pandemic.
The disaster management act of 2005
There are various laws which are relevant in prevention and control of epidemic
diseases like the drug and cosmetics act of 1940, the drug (control) act of 1950
and the environmental protection act of 1986. But all these are just passing
references and the main legislation for controlling the pandemic diseases is the
disaster management act of 2005.
The disaster management act ,2005 is for effective management of disasters and
for matters which are incidental or connected with , the effective management
of disasters. Sec 2 (d) of the act defines disaster as a calamity or catastrophe or
mishap or grave occurrence which occurred due to natural or man made causes
or negligence or accident resulting in substantial loss or damage to human life
or animal life or degradation of the environment and which is beyond the coping
ability of the affected area. Sec 2 (e) of this act defines disaster management as
planning ,organising , coordinating and implementing the measures for the
mitigation of the disasters and relief and rehabilitation of the affected people .
Thus Covid -19 is fully covered in the ambit and reach of the disaster
management act ,2005.
The case of the Tabligi jamaat and the legal recourse
Tabligi jamaat which is a religious gathering is accused of spreading corona virus
through out the length and breadth of India. Their irresponsible actions may be
held responsible for community transmission of the coronavirus in India. Tabligi
jamaat and it’s head maulana Saad is liable for prosecution under sec 51 of the
disaster management act, 2005 which provides that anyone who fails to comply
with directions of authority (central government or state government or district
authority) issued during a disaster or who wilfully obstructs authorities in
discharge of their duties and if such actions results in loss of life or imminent
danger are liable to be punished for rigorous imprisonment of 2 years. All
members of the jamaat must be caught and should be isolated from the society.
Control over social media and rumour mongering
Since, the corona virus made its entry in india ,social media platforms are full of
rumours and false claims leading to panic in the general population. All these
rumour mongers shall be prosecuted under sec 54 of the disaster management
act,2005 which provides that any one who spreads rumour or false claim about
severity or magnitude of disaster leading to panic in the general population shall
be liable to punishment of rigorous imprisonment of up to 1 year. Further
anyone who spreads panic and rumour is also liable for prosecution under sec.
505 of IPC which provides that any person who spreads rumour or make false
claim by publishing and circulating false report , statement so as to create panic
and false alarm shall be punished for imprisonment which may extend up to 3
years or with fine or both. They could also be prosecuted under sec 66(D) of I.T
act for use of computer resource for spreading panic and cheating. To sum up,
government must deal with a strong arm against people who are looking for this
disaster to spread panic and disorder in the society.
Human crisis during corona pandemic
To control the spread of corona pandemic government had announced a 21 day
lock down which had put shutters on our economy but the worst hit are the daily
wagers like labourers, agricultural-workers, small farmers ,tea and vegetable
vendors who had lost their daily income and are left workless in this crisis. These
people are now totally depending on government aid to survive through this
crisis. Government must not fail these people and incidents like where returning
labourers are made to hop or are sprayed with disinfectant like ammonium
hydroxide speaks very poorly of police and district administration. These people
are the most vulnerable class of society and had no savings to survive these
types of disasters. Government must provide food , water and lodging to these
people with assistance of private players and NGO’s.
Thinking it right
This is a very important issue that once a crisis happens it plays havoc with our
thinking and because our thinking is not right ,it hampers our ability to manage
the crisis. In this universe things do not happen as we expect them to happen
but our expectancies play a pivotal role in the way we handle ourselves. USA is
losing the battle against corona virus in spite of having the world best medical
infrastructure and enormous resources at their disposal . The reason is the
apocalyptic thinking of the government and the people because they are waiting
for such a crisis to happen. Their officials, politicians and including their
president are in a state of panic and are always seen on TV saying that the
numbers of dead person due to covid-19 will increase and millions of people
may die across USA. This type of apocalyptic thinking is not serving USA well and
they must soon get over with this type of thinking. They should prepare to face
this crisis with optimism and hope. They must remember that mother nature is
a kalpavriksha (a tree which fulfill wishes) and they will get whatever they ask
for. So if they long for a crisis ,the crisis will happen and if they long for health,
happiness and peace, it will happen.
Authored by,
Sourabh verma , LL.M (Delhi university),JRF
Assistant professor of law, ITM university
Ex special public prosecutor ,CBI
Contact : sourabhverma078@Gmail.com