Direct Kerala Police not to collect call records of COVID patients: Ramesh Chennithala moves HC

Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Monday approached the Kerala High Court seeking directions to the state police not to collect call detail records of COVID-19 patients and persons likely infected under quarantine from any service provider.

Chennithala, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly, moved a plea in the High Court claiming that the State government's action is unconstitutional. The matter is likely to come up for hearing on Tuesday.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had last week informed that the police was collecting the call detail records of COVID-19 patients for contact tracing to arrest the spread of viral disease in the state.

Kerala police are using the contact-tracing strategy to determine how many people came in contact with the COVID-19 positive patients and whether these people are showing any symptoms of the disease.

Vijayan had during a press meeting on August 13 rejected the concerns about this move intruding into the privacy of citizens and clarified that there will be no intrusion into the patient's privacy.

( With inputs from ANI )