Is justice being served in the times of COVID-19?

World Health Organization has recently declared COVID-19 as a pandemic. A pandemic is nothing but a "widespread of a disease". The country was needed to enforce laws for the control of this disease and so came in the light the laws of the colonial era. The country needed to change the laws long back but failed to do so but when the time has come to enforce them, they are not that obliging for the proper and efficient working of the legal system itself which is the most important organ of the democracy.

The laws and legal framework are important during times like these as to make sure the proper working of all authorities and rules and regulations being followed. The main legislation invoked by the Central and State Governments are as follows-

1. Disaster Management Act, 2005 and

2. The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 read with Section 188 of The Indian Penal Code.

Disaster Management Act, 2005 was enacted for effective management of disasters and other relevant matters connected to it. It also provides for the establishment of the National Disaster Management Authority, with the Prime Minister of India being the chairperson and also provides for the constitution of a National Executive Committee. The relevant section here is Section 10 which provides for monitoring and implementation of the national plan by the Central Government.

The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 is a British Era act that was enacted to tackle the problem of the plague spread in the 1890s. It is a brief legislation containing four sections. Section 2 of the act prescribes to formulate special measures and regulations for containing the outbreak and spread of an epidemic if ordinary provisions of the law fail to be at use. Section 3 of the act provides that is any person disobeys any order given under this act as an offence punishable under Section 188 of Indian Penal Code. Section 188 deals with an offence of "Disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant". In the landmark judgment of Madras High Court in the case of Chinnamuthu Ambalamm vs S. Jagannatha [AIR 1959 Mad 89] the ingredients of Section 188 were elaborated. The last section, i.e. Section 4 grants immunity to persons acting under the Act which is the most important of all seeing the present circumstances where doctors and police personnel who are working for the betterment of people are being harassed on daily basis.

Other than Section 188 of Indian Penal Code, some other sections worth mentioning here are Section 269 , 270 and 271. Section 269 deals with "negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to health. The offence is cognizable and bailable and is punishable with imprisonment up to six months or with fine, or with both. Under Section 270, a more pressing variant of Section 269 is given which deals with the offence "Malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life." which is punishable with rigorous imprisonment up to two years, or with fine, or with both and Section 271 deals with "Disobedience of quarantine rule" which is punishable with imprisonment up to six months, or with fine, or with both and the offence is non cognizable and bailable. The Central and State Governments should make this offence cognizable and also increase the amount of punishments to make the people more aware about it.

Social distancing and legal system run totally opposite to each other. From times immemorial the courts have been functioning by gathering of judges, advocates, legal officers and the parties to the dispute in the court of law. The motions are argued in person by lawyers who sit in tightly packed courtrooms waiting for their cases to be called for arguments

Our legal system needs to evolve in the short term to respond to the coronavirus, and it is doing so by introducing concepts like conducting the proceedings through video conferencing, and e- filing of the cases, etc.

The much-needed digitization which many lawyers had advised is now taking place but as we all know every coin has two faces and this digitization has also brought forward some very basics hurdles involved in the process.

The Supreme Court took suo moto (on its own) cognizance of the situation with the help of a Writ Petition (Civil) No. 5/2020 and gave certain guidelines to be adhered to for functioning of the courts through video conferencing during COVID- 19. Also, the Chairperson of the E committee of Supreme Court ( Hon'ble Dr. Justice Chandrachud) along with other members gathered through video conferencing to seek out that all the ends of justice should meet and all the urgent matter are heard on time during the period of this lockdown because of COVID - 19 and are making sure that the rights are still being guarded by the courts of law.

After scrutinizing every suggestion from all the High Courts, the committee came on a conclusion on followings points-

1. Enabling e-filing in accordance with Section 6 of The Information Technology Act.

2. Hearing of urgent matters only through video conferencing.

3. Providing facilitation in e-filing of the matters and video conferencing.

4. Ensuring a proper procedure for mentioning cases.

5. Encouraging lawyers, Judges of High Courts to stay at home and take up hearings from there.

6. Using the latest software for automatic posting of the cases.

The committee even discussed on live streaming of proceedings held by video conferencing and decided on hosting the live streaming on the websites by the next day, ensuring that people have access to it. Almost all the High Courts in India have adopted the suggestions given by the committee and the Apex Court.

Once this critical period passes, we need to be more mindful before using these experiences to make permanent changes to our systems. Human and face to face interaction are also important at the same time for the legal system to work properly but one should not ignore the recent developments made in the legal system. I hope this blog post could have provided some insight on the aforesaid topic.

Stay safe!

Stay home people!