On Tuesday, The Bombay High Court (HC) said that there is a risk of victimization if the names of the COVID-19 patients are revealed. This has come after a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed seeking mechanisms to reveal names of both suspected and infected COVID-19 patients.
The PIL was filed by law student Vaishnavi Gholave and Solapur-based agriculturist Mahesh Gadekar. The plea stated that the disclosure of the names was necessary for the larger public interest as the infected patients may not be able to recognize or provide complete information of those who have come in contact with them. The plea further said that disclosing the names of COVID-19 patients would make contact tracing easier and improve the chances of early detection.
However, the HC has questioned the petitioners as to what purpose would be served by disclosing the names of the COVID-19 patients. A Division Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Sarang Kotwal heard the PIL through videoconferencing. Chief Justice Datta pointed out that there is always a ‘risk of ostracisation’ in revealing the identity of the person.
On behalf of the Central Government, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh opposed the PIL. He argued that the High Courts of Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Madras and Orissa have already dismissed similar pleas, and thus the Bombay HC should also not entertain the PIL. However, the matter has been posted for further hearing in the next week.
Meanwhile, the prevalence of the novel coronavirus is increasing day by day in Maharashtra. The state is rapidly inching towards recording 4 lakh COVID-19 cases with more than 1.10 lakh cases in its capital city of Mumbai.
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