1 Right to protest- The right to protest cannot be anytime and everywhere , the Supreme Court (SC) said as it dismissed a plea seeking review of its earlier verdict passed last year in which SC has held the occupation of public ways during the anti Citizenship Ammendment act protests at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi, was not acceptable. SC further added that there may be some spontaneous protests but in case of prolonged protest, there can not be continued occupation of public places affecting the rights of other citizens.
A bench of three Sc judges saiid that “ We have perused the review petition and record of the civil appeal and we all are convinced that the order(which was passed earlier) of which review has been saught, does not suffer from any error apparent warranting its reconsideration.”This bench which had passed this order recently, said it has considered the earlier judicial pronouncements and recorded its opinion That “ the constitutional scheme comes with right to protest and express dissent but with an obligation to have certain duties. In case of prolonged dissent or protest, there cannot be continued occupation of public place affecting the rights of others” The benched dismissed the plea by one Shaheen Bagh resident and others seeking review of last year’s verdict in October 2020. This order 7th Oct 2020 held that [ublic places cannot be occupied indefinitely and demostrations expressing dissent have to be at designated places alone. The order had expilicity mentioned that occupation of public places in anti CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh locality is not accepatable.Sc further added that mode and manner of dissent against colonial rule during freedom struggle cannot be equated with dissent in a self regulated democracy.
SC had earlier held that the protest at Shaheen Bagh was a blockage of a public way which caused grave inconvinience to commuters. In the earlier order SC had held that “ we cannot accept the plea of the applicants that indeterminable number of people can assemble whenever they chose to protest.
As per SC, if there was no Covid pandemic then this blockage would have become even more longer, which is not at all accepatable. The administration has every right, and ought to take action to keep the areas clear of encroachments or obstructions.
With reference to all thee obswrvations, I fail to understand why the admistration has not cleared the protestors sitting across all the entries at Delhi border, and protesting against new Farm laws. It looks like that SC will have to intervene in the end, in this matter also.
2 One question which is coming to everyone’s mind is ‘ what if Covid 19 never goes away’? Many experts say it is likely that some version of the disease will linger for years to come. In what form it will look in future is not clear. This virus which has already killed more than 2 million people worldwide, will it be eliminated like smallpox by vaccination or its variant will evade vaccines. There is possibility that this virus may stick around for a longtime, transforming ito little annoyance and inconvinience. It may even become like many other infectious diseases that humanity will have to learn to live with.
But no one can predict what will happen in future. This virus is evolving rapidly and new variants are being found in different countries. The risk of these new variants was known whwn Novavax found that rhe company’s vaccine did not work as well against new versions circulating in Britain and South Africa.As per the experts, it is highly likely as the virus spreads, the new variants might become capable of eluding tests, treatments and vaccines.
The immediate requirement, as per scientists, is to give vaccination to as many people, which is possible. The next step will be to ascertain, whether the strength of the immunity offered by various types of vaccine and natural infections and how long it will last. Are the people going to subjec to repeat covid infections, as per the experts it is very difficult to judge at this stage.
Humans may have to learn to live with Covid 19, but the nature of coexistence will depend on not just on how long immunity lasts, but also with how the virus evolve itself. Will it mutate significantly each year, requiring annual shots. The experts also say that after most people have been exposed to virus-either through vaccination or surviving infections- the pathogen of this virus will continue to circulate, which might cause only mild illness like routine cold.
Above are the few possibilites which might happen in future, but one thing is certain people have to learn to live with this virus till every thing is made clear about this virus.
Waqiting for your views and comments.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
15th February 2021
R. N. Mungale.
S. C.decided correctly.