The Bombay High Court today reprimanded a petitioner-in-person for filing a frivolous plea seeking to restrain the State from extending or re-imposing the COVID-19 lockdown. .The Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni, while hearing the plea also challenging the validity of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, pulled up the petitioner for wasting precious judicial time..Advocate Harshal Mirashi was directed to deposit Rs 1 lakh as security with the Court as a pre-condition to hear the plea."We will hear you, but only after you deposit heavy security for filing such frivolous petitions. You are wasting precious judicial hours. If you succeed, you will get your security", Chief Justice Datta said..Appearing in person, Mirashi argued today,"Media is misleading on the deaths of COVID. It is only for generating fear and snatching vulnerable patients." .In response, the Court came down heavily on Mirashi, asking him to "compare the percentage of population who have died here to the population in Europe." ."We will hear you, but only after you deposit heavy security for filing such frivolous petitions. You are wasting precious judicial hours."Chief Justice Dipankar Datta.The Court thus directed Mirashi to deposit 1 lakh within a week as a security deposit as a pre-condition for hearing the plea. If he fails to deposit the amount, his plea would be considered dismissed. It was also clarified that if his plea succeeds, he can withdraw the amount from the Court..Mirashi's plea challenges the constitutional validity of the Epidemic Diseases Act and its operation. He had moved the High Court to seek an order restraining the State from extending or re-imposing a COVID-19 lockdown and forcing quarantining of people. .He also prayed for the State to be restrained from penalising people who are not wearing masks and studying the drawbacks of wearing masks. .He alleges in his plea that "media is in hand in hand with the fear traders, they are telecasting news of countries wherein lockdown is re-impose.".The plea goes on to read,."The media is repeatedly telecasting news of increase in number of cases of CORONA patient. Let the media bring one person from anywhere in India who has never sneezed or cough. The immune of body need to sneeze or cough to survive. However this is a deadly bolt from the blue, where media makes it a weapon to generate fear. Why is the Government acting so cruel with its own citizen?"
