The legality of Lockdown in India

The term "lockdown" would certainly be familiar to all of us since we spent most of our time in lockdown last year due to the Covid-19 global pandemic. Before this, we hardly spent too much of our time in lockdown, so we must know about it.

 

Introduction

After the one-day Janta Curfew on March 22, 2020, the central government enforced a 21-day lockdown. The lockdown was implemented to curb the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak and encourage the idea of self-isolation and social distancing. But after this move, a debate arose and people began to doubt its constitutionality, and it was called a violation of Article 19 of the Constitution, and some people said that, in such circumstances, emergency provisions should be invoked by the government. That is why in this article, we will talk about the term "lockdown" and will discuss in detail the laws relevant to it in India.

It is important to see that the term “lockdown” has not been mentioned under any Indian law. The root of the word Lockdown is from the UK. Like almost everything else, we have also inherited this word from another country. Lockdown means a period of time in which, because of risk, individuals are not allowed to leave their homes or move freely because of danger.

 

Laws related to lockdown in India

In particular, there are two legal provisions that are related to the lockdown, the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 – The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 is a colonial act and was made to deal with disasters and epidemics (e.g. diseases like corona) and to prevent them. It aims to protect any State or any part of the State from the threat of any dangerous epidemic.

 

Disaster Management Act, 2005 – The Disaster Management Act, 2005 contains certain powers that are not covered by the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897. The DMA is an administrative framework that allows the central government to make plans to reduce the impact, effects, and risks of the virus. It also empowers it to state that the country is in the midst of a disaster and there should be some plans to stop that disaster.

 

Indian Penal Code - The Indian Penal Code is a formal criminal code of India. It is a complete code that aims to cover all facets of criminal law. It came into effect in 1862 in all the British Presidencies, but it did not extend to the Princely States, which had their own courts and legal system.

 

The constitutional validity of lockdown

Since the lockdown has been imposed, there are several issues arising from the validity of the lockdown, since it restricts various fundamental rights, such as-

1.     Article 19(1)(d) - ‘the right to move freely throughout the territory of India,’

2.     Article 19(1)(g) - ‘the right to practice any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business,' and

3.     Article 21 -  'the right to life and personal liberty.’

 

 

·       In the case State of Madras v. V.G. Row, the Supreme court held that reasonableness is to be decided by an objective criterion and not by a subjective one, i.e. it is important to take into account the point of view of the average rational man. Besides, it was concluded that there is no precise test or criterion to assess whether the restriction in question is reasonable or not and that the same should be decided by the examination of the facts and circumstances.

 

·   The Supreme Court held in the case of Narendra Kumar v. The Union of India that even a total prohibition could be considered a reasonable restriction in certain cases.

 

 

Conclusion

The steps taken by the government in view of the global pandemic coronavirus have tried to prevent the outbreak of coronavirus to a large extent and from the above discussion, we can understand that the imposition of lockdown is not unconstitutional in any way but doing so must be subject to reasonable restriction.

 

The Author is a 3rd-year B.A.LLB (Hons) student at School of Law, Sharda University.