Kerala HC seeks govt’s response to plea against Aarogya Setu app

NEWDELHI: The Kerala high court on Friday sought the response of the Union government in a plea challenging its May 1 directive to make the mobile application Aarogya Setu mandatory for all persons working in government and private companies.

The bench headed by justice Shaji P Chaly, however, did not stay the directive while asking for the response by May 12.

Petitioner John Daniel, who is the general secretary of the Thrissur District Congress Committee, on Thursday challenged the government’s mandate to use Aarogya Setu -- a key tool in the Union government’s bid to contain the spread of Covid-19 -alleging that it violated the privacy and autonomy of a person.

He submitted that the app collects personal information of an individual without consent.

He also argued that Centre’s directive asked the state governments to proceed under Section 188 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) against anyone who does not install the app.

Section 188 of the IPC states that any person who disobeys an order given by a public servant can be punished with imprisonment up to six months.

“Such coercive and forcible extraction of personal information from an individual is unheard of in a democratic and republic setup and it is attribute of a dictatorial system”, the petition said.

The central government launched Aarogya Setu on April 2 to disseminate information regarding Covid-19, and to collect data from individuals.

It is a tracking mobile application which uses the smartphone’s GPS and Bluetooth features to track the coronavirus infection. It determines whether or not an individual has been within six feet of a Covid-19 – infected person by scanning through a database of known cases across India. On April 29, it was made mandatory for all central government employees. On May 1, it was extended to all employees in private and public institutions.