No posters to be pasted outside homes of Covid patients: Delhi govt to HC

New Delhi: The Delhi government on Tuesday told the Delhi High Court that it had already instructed all of its officials to not paste posters outside homes of COVID-19 patients or those in home isolation, following which the court disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking guidelines on pasting posters outside homes of COVID-19 patients.

The Delhi government also told the bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad that it had instructed its officials to remove the posters that had already been put up outside the homes of Coronavirus patients.

The Delhi government, represented by its additional standing counsel Satyakam, added that its officials have also not been allowed to share details of COVID-19 positive persons with their neighbours, resident welfare associations or various WhatsApp groups.

The bench was of the view that pursuant to steps taken by the Delhi government in the matter, the issue raised in the plea by lawyer Kush Kalra need not be monitored any longer.

Kalra, in his plea through advocate Kush Sharma, had contended that freely circulating the names of those who test positive for the contagious disease to RWAs and on WhatsApp groups was leading to these people being stigmatised by neighbours. It also added that pasting posters and making such information public would only draw "unnecessary attention" to the affected home.

The petition had stated that COVID-19 positive persons "ought to be given privacy to cope with and recover from the illness in peace and away from prying eyes. Rather, they are being made the centre of public attention..," it had said.

The petition had also claimed that this has resulted in persons "shying away and deliberately choosing not to test themselves" to apparently shield themselves from the "public embarrassment and stigmatisation" which is also caused by pasting posters outside homes of COVID-19 positive patients.

The Delhi government had issued orders to stop pasting posters outside Covid patients' homes early in October, a week after the Delhi High Court had issued a notice to it in this PIL. In fact, the Delhi government's own analysis had shown at the time that such a procedure was stopping people from voluntarily getting tested.