JUDGMENT

Shivakant Prasad, J.—The petitioner is a social worker and a journalist by profession and a permanent resident of these islands and he has assailed the Aberdeen Police Station, FIR No.233 dated 27.04.2020 registered under sections 51 and 54 of the Disaster Management Act 2005 read with sections 188, 269, 270, 505(1)(b) of the Indian Penal Code, inter alia, on the ground that there is no ingredients of the offence as alleged in the FIR and the tweet of the petitioner does not form any substance for registration of the said FIR.

2. In view of pandemic situation due to Covid-19, complete lockdown was called on from the mid-night of 24th March, 2020 restricting the movement of individuals.

3. It is pointed that the situation was so grim in the islands and based on the letter of an advocate of Andaman and Nicobar Bar Association, the Hon’ble Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court was pleased to treat the said letter as a Public Interest Litigation and a Monitoring Committee was constituted by the Hon’ble High Court to monitor the mechanism being adopted by the Administration to handle the pandemic situation.

4. The petitioner tweeted on 26th April, 2020 in his twitter account