Telangana High Court on Tuesday dismissed a PIL plea filed by human rights activist Sunitha Krishnan seeking direction to State government for complete lockdown till July 15 in the backdrop of alarming rise in COVID-19 cases.
A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy, after hearing the petitioner’s contentions, said lifting the lockdown was a policy decision of the government. There was little scope for the courts to interfere in the matter, the bench said.
A Padmasree awardee, Ms. Krishnan of Prajwala Homes said in the petition that completely lifting the lockdown even as COVID-19 cases shoot up was against the constitutional provisions. Opening up religious places was likely to result in further spread of the virus.
She said that complete lockdown till July 15 was a better option and it would be better to handover implementation of the lockdown to para-military forces while making available essential services. Religious places should be opened only after July 15 after reviewing the situation then, she contended.
‘Misplaced contentions’
The bench said the petitioner’s contentions were misplaced as no one was compelling people to visit religious places with the virus still spreading. It would be better for people to stay indoors if they want to be safe. It referred to the observations made by World Health Organisation that spurt in COVID-19 cases would be unavoidable once the lockdown is lifted.
The bench also said that Telangana was not the only State in the country to lift the lockdown. Majority of the States had already taken a decision to lift the restrictions in a phased manner while some had completely lifted it.
“We cannot be indoors for eternity,” the bench remarked,
