Person who came in contact with COVID-19 infected pizza delivery boy moves Delhi High Court over prolonged home quarantine

Aggrieved by the prolonged home quarantine imposed by the Delhi Government, one of the 72 persons who came in contact with the infamous COVID-19 infected pizza delivery person, has moved the Delhi High Court. .Notice in the petition was issued today by a Single Judge Bench of Justice C Hari Shankar. .A photo journalist by profession, Amit Bhargava (Petitioner), informed the Court that he came in contact with the infected pizza delivery boy on the intervening night of March 24-25. .In his Petition filed through Advocates Shyel Tehran and Diya Kapur, the Petitioner informed the Court that a 'Home Quarantine Notice' was pasted at his residence on April 15, stating that the Petitioner shall be home quaratined from March 24 to April 20. .Thereafter, on April 17, another 'Home Quarantine Notice' was pasted on the door of the Petitioner's home, informing that his quarantine period shall be from April 14 to April 28..It is the Petitioner's grievance that the manner in which the quarantine notice displayed information was incomplete as it did not clarify that the infected individual was diagnosed only on Apirl 14 i.e. approximately 20 days after contact with the Petitioner..This caused great reputational damage to the Petitoner as his neighbours started questioning as to why he was not observing quarantine from March 24 itself, the Petitioner said. .The Court was informed that as per the Ministry of Health & Family of Welfare Guidelines, the 14-day quarantine period should have come to an end on April 7 itself and there was no basis for a home quarantine period of over 30 days from the date of exposure, either clinically or in law..The imposition of such prolonged quarantine period on a person who had a single defined point of contact with the infected individual is arbitrary and reflected non-application of mind, the Petitioner has asserted..The Petitioner has also alleged that on April 20, certain individuals came to his residence for thepurpose of testing but left without taking any sample. .In view of the above, the Petitioner has, inter alia, sought a direction to not only quash the Home Quarantine Notices but also prayed for a direction to the Delhi Government to clarify whether a person who has been exposed to the virus ought to be quarantined for 14 days from exposure or 28 days from exposure..The matter would be heard next on May 11.