Is the State government prepared to launch criminal prosecutions against political leaders who paid fines by accepting their violation of COVID-19 norms of wearing masks and maintaining social distancing during political rallies?
The Karnataka High Court posed this question to the government while stating that many of the political leaders have paid fine for not wearing masks during rallies held as part of the campaign for the bypolls held to State Assembly in the city.
“If the [political] persons concerned have paid the fine, they have admitted to their violation. Therefore, failure of the State to prosecute them will have a serious consequence...,” a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S. Vishwajith Shetty observed.
The Bench was hearing petitions filed by Letzkit Foundation, Bengaluru, and Sai Datta, a resident of the city, complaining about violations of norms by celebrities, elected representatives, political leaders and others during rallies and demonstrations.
The violation of these norms, prescribed under the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Regulations, 2020, is cognizable and non-bailable offence and attracts imprisonment up to three years and fine up to ₹2 lakh on conviction under Section 5 of the Karnataka Epidemic Disease Act, 2020, the Bench said while pointing out that this punishment is in addition to the fine to be imposed by the authorised officers.
Earlier, government counsel Vikram Huilgol pointed out that the government had no intention of launching criminal prosecution against people for not wearing masks and maintaining social distance but there appears to be some incongruity in the wording in the law, which the government is now aware and is examining them.
The police had booked only non-cognizable offences against actor Darshan, political leaders like former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D.K. Shivakumar and several other party workers for violating norms during election campaigning, and against Lok Sabha member Tejasvi Surya for not wearing mask during a rally on September 29-30, the Bench noted. Only fine amounts were collected from them after court questioned about not imposing fine.
