Don’t arrest quarantine escapees: SC

Kathmandu, May 27

The Supreme Court today issued an interim order to Parsa District Administration telling it not to execute its order of May 13 authorising security forces to take people who flee from quarantine centres into custody and even use lethal force against them, if necessary.

The interim order was passed by a single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Sharma in response to a writ petition filed by Advocate Shailendra Prasad Harijan and others against DAO Parsa.

The court also ordered the DAO to provide amenities and improve the quality of quanranitne centres as per the government’s endorsed criteria.

Harijan told THT that although Parsa DAO withdrew its decision, the CDO’s subsequent order indirectly gave the same order to security personnel under the Local Administration Act.

The DAO said security personnel could take fleeing people under control, which means that they would have power to use lethal force under the Local Administration Act.

Harijan said security personnel had invoked the same Act to justify use of lethal force against protesters during the constitution making process.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on May 28, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.