Covid SOS: Heed SC warning

The order of the Supreme Court directing state police chiefs not to take action against citizens for posting on social media about “shortage of beds, oxygen shortage, conditions of Covid care centres and hospitals, etc., during pandemic” sends two powerful messages. One, the Supreme Court has chosen to assume the role of the guardian angel of the citizen’s fundamental right to speech and expression. Two, by trying to choke information flow, the rulers do not help the cause of fighting a pandemic.

The court was forced to intervene after the Uttar Pradesh government declared that it will slap the draconian National Security Act on people who seek better government service in the face of a deadly pandemic. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had gone to the extent of declaring that the property of those who publicly air their grievances about governmental shortcomings will be attached.

Pandemics are times when both the government and the people are a stressed lot. The best way to fight a common enemy is to stand together. For a government to treat citizens as an enemy and make attempts to smother their rights does not go with the basic principles of democracy. Any such attempt must be thwarted; the court has done its job.

A pandemic will expose inefficiencies in governance that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. A sensible government can see in it an opportunity to know its weak points and plug them. Attempts to deal with them by misusing legal provisions are definitely not a constructive way to resolve issues. Citing historic events, the Supreme Court reminded governments that free flow of information has helped fight natural calamities and its absence has worsened situations. The government must take the right lessons from the order.