Courts and COVID
India’s courts have played a prominent in helping (or not) the country manage its COVID-19 epidemic, especially during the second wave this year – from asking the government to explain which proofs of identity will be accepted at vaccination centres to recommending lockdowns. Two high courts, Madras and Allahabad, have also expressed sentiments that had until then been confined to Twitter – that the Election Commission should assume responsibility for the deaths of thousands of people and that state failures to supply oxygen amount to “genocide”. Here are some of the more notable search results from Bar & Bench, plus one from The Wire.
SC Stays Delhi HC Order on Contempt Proceedings Against Centre Over Oxygen Supply
I’m not yet sure if one variety of proclamation will be more effectual than the other (social-media outrage versus outbursts from the courts) in terms of causing real change.
In addition, while the courts’ expertise is less questionable on matters related to the people’s rights and governments’ responsibilities, they do trip up when they recommend lockdowns or the supply of unproven drugs the same way the Supreme Court has tripped up asking for smog towers in Delhi. Have the courts assessed the trial data? Have they consulted doctors? If so, which ones were consulted? Do the courts also intend to ensure migrant and daily-wage workers don’t get fucked over this time?
It’s good that the judiciary is cracking the whip when almost no one else is, but knowing how the judicial system works, I’m not sure if we should rejoice already… “This is what things have come to, and the courts can help ensure the only way we go from here is up” is not a bad argument in their favour. But you may also notice a distinction between the high courts and the apex court: the latter seems reluctant to admit the idea that the government is responsible for the mess that almost everyone else (on this side of the aisle) believe it created. Is recovery sans accountability a good bargain?
