Cases piling up on lockdown violation to be heard after situation normalises: Lawyers

Kolkata, Apr 15 () With several thousand peoplearrested in the city for violation of lockdown imposed to curbthe spread of the coronavirus, a pile of such cases would beheard in courts once the situation normalises, lawyers said onWednesday.The violators, arrested mainly under section 188 ofthe Indian Penal Code (IPC) for violation of lockdownmeasures, are generally granted bail from the police stationon a personal bond, as it is a bailable section, Radha KantaMukherjee, special public prosecutor at the Alipore Courthere.According to Kolkata Police sources, till April 14,over 16,000 people have been arrested from different parts ofthe city for defying the nationwide lockdown which was imposedon March 25.

This is a part of our ongoing measure to ensure thatpeople are not defying the lockdown. Despite our attempts,people have come out of their houses either with invalid orfake documents or without proper reasons," a senior officer ofthe Kolkata Police said.

We have arrested them under section 188 of the IPCand seized vehicles following necessary legal formalities,the officer said.The process will continue as the Centre has extendedthe lockdown till May 3, he added.

We have been trying to convince the people throughvarious ways, but it seems that some are not ready tounderstand the reason behind the lockdown, he added.The violators who were arrested and later enlarged onbail from the police stations would have to appear before thedesignated courts once the normal judicial function resumes,the special public prosecutor said.According to an order of the Chief Justice of theCalcutta High Court, T B N Radhakrishnan, only extremelyurgent matters are being taken up by the courts in West Bengalthrough video-conferencing only.

"An alleged violator is granted bail on a personalbond if the charges are bailable. The person is given a date,ideally within a maximum period of a month, by the officer-in-charge of the police station concerned to appear before thedesignated court for further proceedings," Mukherjee said.He said that if the courts do not recommence normalfunctioning by that time, the alleged violator would have totake another date from the concerned police station, withinthe jurisdiction of which he or she was arrested.Once the courts reopen, the magistrates would have todeal with thousands of such cases, said Calcutta High Courtlawyer Suman Shankar Chatterjee.

If the alleged violator admits guilt, he or she may bepunished as per law and the case disposed of, but if theperson challenges the charges against him or her, proceedingswould have to be drawn against the person before the courtgives its verdict, Chatterjee said.

Violation of section 188 (disobeying a publicservant's lawful order) attracts jail term of one month orfine up to Rs 200, or both.If such disobedience causes or tends to cause dangerto human life, health and safety, the guilty shall be punishedwith imprisonment for a term up to six months or fine of up toRs 2,000 or both. AMR SCHSBN SBN