HC quashes FIR against man for not wearing a mask

HC quashes FIR against man for not wearing a mask

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Madurai:09.11.2021

The Madras high court has quashed an FIR which was registered against a man who was seen roaming around without wearing masks during the Covid-19 lockdown at Tenkasi district in 2020. The court passed the order while hearing the petition filed by Ashik Ali, who sought to quash the FIR registered against him by the Puliyangudi police in the district.

The case of the prosecution is that when the prohibitory order under Section 144 CrPC was in effect due to Covid-19 pandemic, several people including the petitioner were seen roaming on the road without masks on April 24, 2020.

Justice G Ilangovan observed that though Section 144 CrPC was in effect during the relevant point of time, police ought to have warned the petitioner to go indoors, but instead they had registered a case. It is a trivial matter in which no offence of grievous nature is involved.

The judge observed that it is not the case of police that the petitioner was affected by Covid-19 at the time of occurrence. Therefore, the judge rejected the contention of the prosecution that the petitioner roaming in the road during the pandemic period would result in spread of the infection. Taking into account the facts and circumstances of the case and that the government has taken a decision to drop all these cases which have been registered against the public during the pandemic, the judge quashed the FIR .