Lockdown displaces lakhs of migrants
Coronavirus lockdown | Can’t stop migrants from walking home, says Supreme Court
The onus is on the government: Bench
The Supreme Court on Friday said it could not be expected to stop migrants from taking the hard and, for many, life-threatening option of trekking thousands of miles to their villages amid the lockdown.
Full coverage | Lockdown displaces lakhs of migrants
The court said the onus was on the government to draw migrants away from the long walk home and wait for government-arranged inter-State transport. “There are people walking and not stopping. How can we stop it,” a three-judge Bench, led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao, asked at a hearing through video-conference.
The hearing was based on a petition by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, who referred to recent incidents of migrants journeying home on their own getting killed on highways. He also referred to the incident where 16 migrants, sleeping on a railway track, were mowed down by a train. The court said it could not pass orders on applications based on news reports; the States ought to act.
Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta said transport would be provided to all so that they can reach their homes.