The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) expressing grave concern over the arrest and quarantine of peaceful protesters has stressed that authorities should not use quarantine as a punishment or mode of detention.
“Quarantining has necessarily to relate to a person who has contracted the disease or is suspected to have contracted the disease. Clearly, quarantine is a health precaution and should not be used as a punishment or mode of detention,” has told the Director General of Health Services and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) in a letter.
During the past few days the Sri Lanka Police has carried out a number of arrests of persons engaged in peaceful protests on different issues and produced them before courts of law. The protesters including Buddhist monks and elderly have forcibly been taken to quarantine centers.
The Police headquarters announced on July 06 that public protests and rallies will be banned claiming to be on the instructions of the Director General of Health Services that public protests and rallies should not be held until further notice as there is a risk of the COVID-19 spreading due to such activities where masses will gather.
The BASL said it has carefully perused the Health Guidelines issued by the Director General of Health Services and the said Guidelines while permitting several indoor and outdoor activities including operation of spas, supermarkets and restaurants and liquor shops, have not listed public protests or outdoor meetings as prohibited activities.
“However, at a time the Director General of Health Services has thought it fit to ease restrictions previously imposed, the BASL sees no reasonable cause whatsoever for the Police to act in a heavy-handed manner when dealing with protesters,” the lawyers’ association said.
The BASL noted that the arrested protesters have been taken to quarantine centers after they were granted bail by the courts sometimes without even informing them or their families of where they were being taken.
“The BASL has taken note of several instances and is deeply concerned as to how individuals after having been granted bail have been forcibly seized from the precincts of the courthouses and sent to quarantine against their will. There is scant evidence that such decisions were based on the advice of health officials such as Public Health Inspectors,” the BASL said.
“The aforesaid acts of forced detention in quarantine centers are arbitrary and unlawful are an affront to the judiciary who have released the said persons on bail. Such arrests and forcible detentions have a negative effect on and undermine the genuine efforts being taken by the health authorities, the security forces and the police to combat COVID-19.”
The BASL requested the Inspector General of Police to direct his officers to refrain from arresting and detaining persons who are exercising their peaceful right to protest.
The BASL called upon the Director General of Health Services not to allow the Health Guidelines to be abused in a manner which has a chilling effect on the freedom to dissent and to ensure that Health Regulations and Guidelines are used only for the purpose they were promulgated for – i.e. to curb the spread of COVID-19.