Taking a serious view of an incident where a group of persons travelling in an auto rickshaw in Tiruchi without following COVID-19 protocol abuse the police when questioned, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court said the court was not going to be lenient on threats to police when they were performing their duty during a pandemic situation.
ADVERTISEMENT
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh said police were already functioning under severe stress due to the pandemic situation. Everyone should realise their responsibility since the virus was taking away lives of innocent persons. After all, the police were only performing their public duty.
When they questioned someone moving around during the total lockdown, the person was expected to answer the police. Police could not be subjected to abuse and threat by anyone and such acts must be dealt with sternly, the judge said.
The court was hearing the anticipatory bail plea of Kaja Hussain of Tiruchi.
ADVERTISEMENT
The main allegation made against the accused and four others was that they were travelling in an auto-rickshaw without following the COVID-19 protocol and when they were questioned by the police, they abused and prevented them from doing their public duty.
The court directed the petitioner to file an affidavit in the Registry expressing regret for the incident and give an undertaking that he would not involve himself in any such activity in future. He was directed to pay a compensation of ₹10,000 to the Advocate Clerks Welfare Association, Madurai. The case was posted for reporting compliance to June 14.
It directed the police not to arrest the petitioner in the meantime. The court was informed that three of the accused in the case were arrested and remanded in judicial custody. Two other accused were absconding.