UP ex-DGP for quashing of lockdown violation FIRs

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, April 16

Uttar Pradesh former DGP Vikram Singh on Thursday moved the Supreme Court (SC) seeking quashing of the FIRs registered under Section 188 of the IPC and other provisions for violation of Covid-19 lockdown.

Singh, who filed a PIL in his capacity as the chairman of a think tank — Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC), urged the top court to issue directions under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 to state governments to refrain from registering such FIRs .

“The situation needs to be handled humanely,” he said. He said as per Section 195 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 as well as many judgments of the SC and high courts, no FIR can be registered under Section 188 IPC. “The police brutality through frequent lathicharge during the lockdown cannot be allowed to be normalised and institutionalised,” Singh submitted.

According to the petitioner, between March 23 and April 13, 848 such FIRs were registered by 50 police stations in Delhi. As per UP Government’s own admission vide its Twitter handle, 15,378 such FIRs have been registered against 48,503 persons, the petitioner stated. “If this is the situation in the national capital and the adjoining state, the situation in other parts of the country can very well be imagined,” his counsel Virag Gupta told The Tribune.

NRI doc moves court against use of HCQ

New Delhi: A US-based NRI doctor on Thursday moved the Supreme Court against use of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and Azithromycin (AZM) to treat serious Covid-19 cases in India. Petitioner Dr Kunal Saha claimed the use of HCQ and AZM for Covid treatment was based primarily on “anecdotal evidence” and not on “direct scientific data”. The use of these drugs for Covid treatment was “potentially-life threatening”, contended Saha, who is president, People for Better Treatment. tns