The Human Rights Cost of India’s COVID-19 Lockdown

INTRODUCTION 

India's Covid-19 shutdown began in March 2020. In order to achieve a reduction in active cases, the government used extra-constitutional means to assume administrative control and in so doing failed to safeguard its citizens in consonance with International Human Rights Law. The national  lockdown was implemented on a mere 4-hour notice and saw 1.3 billion individuals locked in  their homes for 21 days, with the threat of up to a year in jail for anyone who refused to follow the restrictions Yet, in a country where hundreds of millions of citizens are destitute and countless millions live in packed urban areas with poor sanitation and weak public health care, such a drastic measure failed to account for the realities of the nation’s citizens. As a result, violations of International Human Rights Law have become widespread, with little effort by leadership to address these issues. 

VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW 

Introduction

India is a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)which recognises every individual’s right to the best physical and mental health possible. 

India is also a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The ICCPR allows derogation from some duties in national emergencies, if the emergency endangers the survival of the state and is so proclaimed.  India's Ministry of Home Affairs selectively used the Disaster Management Act to gain administrative power, leading to a de facto emergency that was never proclaimed. Thus, the imposition of a nationwide lockdown using the Disaster Management Act of 2005 enabled the Union Government to impose its will on the whole country, resulting in a humanitarian crisis. 

Effects on Labour and India’s Workers 

Several states amended labour rules to assist corporations in recouping economic losses. However, this action contradicted the Declaration on Fundamental Rights and Rights at Work. On May 29, Odisha's cabinet amended the Factories Act of1948, and the Industrial Disputes Act, exempting a sizable portion of small factories from the purview of the Factories Act and enabling enterprises with up to 300 employees to lay off workers or close without government approval. Healthcare employees also fared poorly. Indian physicians had to make do with improvised hazardous suits because of a lack of PPE Kits, despite the fact that Article 12.2(c) of the ICESCR mandates state protection against occupational dangers. 

Increased Discrimination and Violence 

Caste and Religion-based violence saw an uptick, with Muslims and Dalits being the most susceptible. The National Human Rights Commission documented 672 occurrences of discrimination and persecution against Scheduled Castes and 79 cases against minorities in 2019-20, directly violating the ICCPR and ICESCR. Additionally, police have been repeatedly accused of using excessive force to enforce the lockdown. On June 23, 2020, residents of Sathankulam, Ponraj and Beniks Jeyaraj, died in Tamil Nadu police custody. The two had been arrested for violating COVID-19 protocol norms by keeping their business open beyond lockdown hours. Following the death of Jeyaraj and Beniks in police custody, two more cases of alleged torture were brought against police. MEGA, an NGO in the district, sent a complaint to district authorities about the rising violence of police against individuals failing to comply with COVID-19 lockdown protocols.  The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) further recorded 15 fatalities, including canings and beatings which breached the ICCPR. The Telangana High Court found state police guilty of arresting a "disproportionately large number of Muslims" and cited the case of a Muslim volunteer who was arrested, beaten by police, and received35 stitches from police harassment.  

On May 12, 2020, five transgender persons filed a public-interest complaint in the Kerala High Court to challenge their living conditions during the lockdown. The Court ordered the state to offer transgender people free medicine, medical services, and identity and ration cards on June 8. 

Lack of Media Freedom and Freedom of Speech 

Media freedom also suffered as a result of the lockdown protocols. The HRW World Report 2020 found that dissidents were punished for sedition and criminal defamation. Journalists who were critical of the regime were harassed and arrested for violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ICCPR. On May 25, Kolkata police questioned Anirban Chattopadhyay, editor of Anandabazar Patrika, the highly respected and largest-circulated Bangla newspaper, for flagging a hospital's lack of PPE for COVID-19 patients. On April 1, a complaint was filed against Siddharth Varadarajan, the founding editor of The Wire, for spreading what officials called “fake news” about Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Similarly, Face the Nation editor Dhaval Patel was jailed on May 11 for predicting Gujarat's chief minister's ouster. 

Increased Terrorist Events 

According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, 99 civilians, 106 security force members, and 383 terrorists or rebels were killed in terrorist events in 2013. This was the lowest number of civilians killed since the SATP began reporting these numbers in 2000. In July, terrorists killed six Jammu and Kashmir politicians.

CONCLUSION 

Lockdown may have been a success had it not been for the high price of abuse of human rights that citizens paid. The lockdown disproportionately hurt marginalized communities due to loss of livelihoods and lack of food, shelter, health care, and other basic needs, and the government has increasingly harassed, arrested, and prosecuted rights defenders, activists, journalists, students, academics, and others critical of the government or its policies. A phased lockdown would have provided Indians with the ability to at least reach their villages safely instead of either covering hundreds of kilometres on foot or fearing for their lives in shelter homes with lack of basic facilities.

Manik Arora and Mritunjai are undergraduate law students at Symbiosis Law School, Pune, India. Both hold an expertise in Public International Law.