Easing the burden of Courts

It is a welcome move that the government is planning to withdraw about 12 lakh minor cases registered by the police for breaking Covid protocols. The handling of this huge number of cases is surely a burden to the courts, police and also for all those involved in such a case. It is observed that majority of the 5 lakh cases in the country that are pending in courts belong to this category of minor cases.

It is usual for the legal proceedings in some simple cases to take ten or fifteen years to complete. Even though, the nature of the cases are not serious, the litigation process can burden those involved in it, immensely.

The Covid protocols for travelling were made strict in order to stop the spread of the epidemic. There were protocols against travelling on roads during Covid. The huge number of cases registered demonstrates how many people were ready to break the law during Covid. There might be people who had travelled for unavoidable reasons. And there might be those who had travelled just for the sake of it. The police have also fined thousands of such people who broke the Covid protocol.

The police had only registered cases against those who had refused to pay the fine after being caught for breaking the Covid protocols. The data with the police shows that 4.25 lakh cases were registered for not wearing the mask. 5.5 lakh people were arrested in the last two years for not complying with the Covid protocols. The number of those who took their vehicles out defying the protocols also comes to that number. 5.36 lakhs of vehicles were fined for such violations.

Many countries have returned to normalcy after the World Health Organization reported that the spread of Covid is receding across the globe and its threat is low. In India, only a few pockets exist, which continues to have Covid protocols.

It is a fact that no one is ready to criticize the police for being stern while executing the Covid protocols during its peak. The unrelenting monitoring and restrictions by the executives helped to contain the spread of the virus.

The most number of cases are against young people. So a petty case like this might be enough to destroy the life of a young person. Therefore, the government must move quickly to execute this decision. The final decision will be taken at a high level meeting next week called by the Chief Minster. Everybody is expecting such creative decisions from the government. After all, there is no loss for anybody by this decision of the government to withdraw these cases.