HC declines plea seeking Delhi govt to prohibit dissemination of COVID-19 data on religious basis

The Delhi High Court on Monday declined to entertain a plea seeking directions to Delhi government to prohibit and stop the dissemination of coronavirus disease data on the basis of religious or communal classification.

Considering that the Supreme Court is already seized of similar issues, this court is not inclined to entertain the present petition, Justice Pratibha M Singh stated.The court requested the petitioner to withdraw the present petition with liberty to approach the Supreme Court to avail of remedies.

The petition filed by advocate M M Kashyap had sought directions to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi government to prohibit and stop the dissemination of coronavirus disease data on the basis of religious or communal classification and or fake news on websites and to take strict actions against the sections of the social media spreading bigotry and communal hatred in relation to the Nizamuddin Markaz issue.

The petitioner had also sought to identify the persons, media, websites and domains, who are "vilifying the Muslim community, promoting enmity, ill will amongst the different religious groups.

The petitioner told the court that the nation is united in the fight against coronavirus but giving it communal colour would hamper the fight against this pandemic.

The Tablighi Jamaat Markaz here at Nizamuddin where a religious congregation was held has emerged as a major COVID-19 hotspot in the country.

( With inputs from ANI )