CORONAVIRUS | The National Human Rights Society (Hakam) has expressed concern with the way those arrested for breaching the movement control order (MCO) were being treated.
Hakam president Gurdial Singh Nijar said those who were arrested are not criminals but rather ordinary public members who allegedly violated the order.
"Last week, a number of people were shown being bundled off in police vans. All of them were handcuffed.
"Later they were remanded in police lockups and subsequently, charged in court. These are not some high criminals.
"They are ordinary members of the public who were found outside their abodes during this Covid-19-stricken stay-home lockdown," he said in a statement.
Gurdial cited an example of a woman who was arrested and had her personal items seized and was sent to a lockup for several days without no one coming to bail her as nobody was allowed to visit during the order.
She was purportedly sentenced to a fine.
"This is a knuckle-duster treatment. I understand there is a chorus of opinion that wants an early end to the state we are in, for a variety of reasons.
"And the politicians are responding to this clamour. And many may support such robust and fierce power over citizens.
"But we must not lose sight of our values of humanism that informs our animated democracy.
"There is a growing risk of an abrupt inflection of our cherished human right values," he added.
Gurdial reiterated that the public has yet to get used to the MCO, therefore, according to him, the implementation must be done in a facilitative way.
"Their (cops) implementation should be viewed as encouraging people to restrict their movements to the bare essentials.
"It will be a steep learning curve for the public to reorder their lifestyle to these new restrictions.
"In short, the newly minted regulations should be implemented in a facilitative rather than a punitive way. Except perhaps for the exceptionally wilfully defiant recalcitrant," he said.
The MCO, which has been in effect since March 18, will be lifted on April 14. - Mkini
"But we must not lose sight of our values of humanism that informs our animated democracy.
"There is a growing risk of an abrupt inflection of our cherished human right values," he added.
Gurdial reiterated that the public has yet to get used to the MCO, therefore, according to him, the implementation must be done in a facilitative way.
"Their (cops) implementation should be viewed as encouraging people to restrict their movements to the bare essentials.
"It will be a steep learning curve for the public to reorder their lifestyle to these new restrictions.
"In short, the newly minted regulations should be implemented in a facilitative rather than a punitive way. Except perhaps for the exceptionally wilfully defiant recalcitrant," he said.
The MCO, which has been in effect since March 18, will be lifted on April 14. - Mkini
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