BHOPAL: Become corona warriors — this is the condition set by the Gwalior bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court for granting bail to the accused in many criminal cases over past few days.
The cases in which such an order has been passed include one filed under the stringent SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, a 2015 case filed by the CBI against a middleman arrested in connection with the Vyapam scam for arranging a dummy to sit in place of the actual candidate in the Forest Guard Appointment Examination in 2013, a matter pertaining to seizure of 92.5 gm smack in Sheopur district, assaulting a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty.
The accused were released on bail on the same condition in other cases too, including that of murder, jumping bail, attempt to murder, theft of liquor, cheating, fraud, breach of trust and cases under the Essential Commodities Act and the Excise Act.
Most of the orders were passed by benches of Justices Sheel Nagu and Rajeev Kumar Shrivastava. While granting bail or anticipatory bail, the court, in many of these cases, observed that the accused was young/middle-aged/able-bodied/responsible citizen.
“In the present time, where the entire humanity is struggling to survive against the Covid-19 pandemic, the government machinery is experiencing an extreme shortage of hands in the process of disaster management. The petitioner, a citizen of India, is obliged to assist the government in times of deep crisis by discharging his fundamental duty enshrined under Article 51-A (d), which states that citizens must defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so,” read one of the bail orders.
The HC bench directed the petitioners to register themselves with the district magistrate concerned as ‘COVID-19 Warrior’ so that they are assigned suitable work taking all prescribed precautions. “This court expects that the petitioner shall rise to the occasion to serve the society in this time of crisis to discharge his fundamental duty of rendering national service,” the bench said.
The nature, quantum and duration of the work to be assigned are left to the discretion of the DM concerned.