Up to Rs 5 lakh fine, 7-yr jail term for attacking Covid-19 health workers

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved an ordinance imposing stringent penalties, including a maximum jail term of seven years and a fine up to Rs 5 lakh, on those found guilty of attacking or harassing health workers treating persons infected with the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). It makes violent offences cognisable and non-bailable.
 

The move comes in the wake of reports of assaults on healthcare workers at some places in the country, including in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka.
 

The ordinance amends the Epidemic Diseases Act (EDA), 1897.  Under the new rules, a person can be imprisoned for a period of three months to five years and asked to pay a fine of Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters after a meeting of the Union Cabinet here on Wednesday.

In case of grave injuries to health workers, the guilty will be sent to jail for a term that could range between six months and seven years, and will be asked to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. In case properties of health workers, including their ambulances, are damaged, the attackers will have to pay twice the market price of such assets.
 

According to the proposed amendments, investigation against the accused will have to be conducted within 30 days and a final decision taken within a year.

Javadekar said attacks on health workers would not be tolerated. “When they (health workers) are doing yeoman service, they are being attacked in some places and their properties damaged. They are also being looked down upon as carriers of Covid-19 at some places. Be it harassment, or criminal offences in the form of violence, this is zero tolerance area for this government. We will not allow this to happen in this civilised society,” Javadekar said.

He said Home Minister Amit Shah and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan held a meeting via videoconferencing with health workers and promised them that the government would ensure their safety.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) had on Monday said that it would observe a ‘Black Day’ on Thursday if the government did not enact a central law on violence against healthcare workers. It called off the protest after the discussion with Shah. The Cabinet also gave ex-post facto approval to the Rs 15,000 crore package for emergency response to Covid-19 and health system preparedness.

President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent for promulgating the ordinance, later in the day.
 

Economic package being readied, says Javadekar
 

An economic package will come separately, information & broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar said after the Cabinet meeting, when asked if such a package had been discussed at the meet.
 

The government has so far approved a package of Rs 1.71 trillion for the vulnerable sections of society, which are facing hardships because of the lockdown imposed to fight Covid-19. However, the additional cost to the exchequer is a little above Rs 1 trillion. BS Reporter