Supreme Court gives Vinod Dua relief from arrest

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Sunday granted journalist Vinod Dua protection from arrest until July 6 even as it disallowed his plea seeking a stay on a FIR registered against him in Himachal Pradesh under various sections of IPC including that related to sedition. A justice UU Lalit-led bench allowed the police to continue probe and sought Centre and HP government’s response on Dua’s plea. It sought a status report from police before next date of hearing on July 6. The court ordered Dua to cooperate with the investigation. It added police will have liberty to question him at his residence in Delhi after giving a 24-hour notice.

The FIR was filed on BJP leader Ajay Shyam’s complaint for uploading a video on Youtube on March 30 in which he criticised the implementation of Covid-19 lockdown. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing both Centre and HP, sought time to file the response which was granted.

Another side of the debate that has come to the fore is the quality of health services. Two days ago, the Supreme Court termed the condition of Delhi’s Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital as “pathetic” and its wards as “deplorable”, though the government said it was trying its best to provide quality services.

Amidst a flurry of activities on Sunday, the Centre also transferred four senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers --Awanish Kumar and Monica Priyadarshini from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Gaurav Singh Rajawat and Vikram Singh Mallik from Arunachal Pradesh --- to help the city-state manage the Covid-19 situation. The government also directed the attachment of two senior IAS officers – SCL Das and SS Yadav -- from the Centre to Delhi.

After the morning meeting, Shah announced that the Centre promised to provide the Delhi government with necessary resources such as oxygen cylinders, ventilators and pulse oximeters, among others. He also said the Centre will issue fresh guidelines on the last rites for Covid-19 victims with an aim to reduce the waiting time for cremations. Later in the day, the health ministry followed up and said bodies of all those suspected to have died of Covid-19 would be “handed over to relatives immediately” without waiting for confirmation. The bodies would be “disposed with precautions,” it added.

For efficient monitoring in containment zones, every individual will be asked to download the Aarogya Setu app, Shah said.

People familiar with the developments said Kejriwal agreed to all steps proposed by Shah during the one-and-a-half-hour meeting in the morning. “Extremely productive meeting between Delhi government and Central government. Many key decisions taken. We will fight corona together,” Kejriwal tweeted after the meeting.

An Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government statement said: “The meeting between the central government and Delhi government was very productive. All issues related to Delhi’s fight against Covid-19 were discussed in detail and key decisions were jointly taken. The central government and the Delhi government agreed on an immediate action plan to increase capacity of beds, increase testing and other important initiatives. This pandemic is among the worst to have happened in the history of mankind and it is imperative for all of us to come together to fight this pandemic.”

In the second meeting in the afternoon, the mayors of Delhi’s three municipal corporations were present alongside Shah, Kejriwal, Vardhan, and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) director Dr Randeep Guleria.

“We have to turn the country and the national capital Corona free, healthy and prosperous at the earliest under the leadership of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Shah said, according to a press statement by the Centre. “This will be possible with the cooperation and coordination of all concerned,” he added. Shah also asked the Delhi government and all concerned departments to ensure proper implementation of the decisions.

At the meeting, the three civic bodies offered to give their community centres, hospitals and schools to the Delhi government for use. “We have extended full support and cooperation to the Delhi government in fight this pandemic. There are other hospitals and our staff is working hard to provide best possible care,” North corporation mayor Avtar Singh said. The three civic bodies are governed by the BJP.

In a related development, a statement from the home minister’s office said Shah called an allparty meeting to review the Covid-19 health crisis in the national capital. The meeting will take place at North Block at 11am on Monday. The Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the AAP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have been asked to be present alongside top state and central officials.

When asked about the allparty meeting, Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta said he will raise issues related to Covid-19 testing. “There is a need to increase testing to contain the disease. We also need to upgrade our facility so that people can be under medical supervision,” he said.

Commenting on the decisions taken on Sunday, Dr Jugal Kishore, head, community medicine, Safdarjung Hospital, said doorto-door survey was the most effective way of identifying cases early. “However, people going door-to-door need to be adequately trained in interacting with common people as community participation is a must during outbreak situations for effective implementation of containment strategies. Half the battle is won if you win the faith of people,” he said.

(with inputs from Risha Chitlangia in

Delhi)