While hearing a plea on the conditions of special camps in Trichy, the Madras High Court appreciated video conferencing as a mode of hearing cases as time saving while not prejudicing the accuracy of the factual situation.
Justice S Vaidyanathan observed that,
“I wish to emphasize that, there are advantages in hearing cases through Whatsapp Video Call, and the fact remains that, it is less time-consuming, and it will be helpful to analyze the exact scenario of each case, so as to arrive at a definite conclusion, as was done in the case on hand.”
The issue at hand was a petition filed by two Koreans who were lodged in special camps as they had been arrested in a criminal case over a default in tax liabilities. The petitioners had e-mailed pictures of overcrowded rooms to support their plea about how the authorities had failed to comply with norm of social distancing during the virus outbreak.
While the court asked the state government look into these claims, the court also connected with Special Deputy Collector SN Suthanthira over a video call to verify the situation at the camps. after having seen the maintenance of the camps for themselves over the video call, the court decided to dismiss the plea stating,
“When sufficient space is available in the Special Camp in Tiruchirapalli District to accommodate 80 persons and that, only 73 inmates are staying there, this Court is of the view that, photographs furnished by the Petitioners to the effect that, more number of persons are detained in a single room without any sign of social distancing, have been taken by the Petitioners only for the purpose of this case. By doing so, Petitioners are inviting diseases and none can be blamed for their act. The cluster in the room is the act of the inmates and not on account of the Respondents.”
The court further added that the petitioners were not able to see the serious consequences of their acts amidst the corona outbreak. It stated, “When the Central and State Governments are taking effective steps to prevent further spread of COVID-19, public, as responsible citizens must extend utmost co-operation to the Government in eradicating this pandemic and shall not try to disrupt the functioning of the Government. We must realize that, the battle is between human beings and nature; unless human beings sail with the nature, nature alone will win the war.”
While the court proceeded to dismiss the petition as it would set an unfair precedent which would ultimately lead to crashing of state machinery, it directed the state to ensure expeditious hearing of the pending cases once the situation normalises.
