The President of Centre of Indian Trade Unions- Mumbai District Committee, K Narayanan found himself in a quarantine centre on April 21, while he was doing his good deed of distributing food to stranded migrant labourers. He was ‘locked up’ by Mumbai Police in quarantine despite of not showing any symptoms for COVID19. He spent the next two weeks in quarantine during which, Mumbai Police hid his COVID19 test results from him, which they had made him undergo.
As per his own account, Narayanan, along with his colleagues was out distributing food and supplies to migrant workers and the poor. Later, he arrived near Ajmeri Masjid carrying flags and placards to participate in the nationwide protest called by CITU against the apathetic attitude of the Centre towards the plight of workers and farmers, while also distributing food packets to the other participants. This was done by giving prior notice to the tahsildar as well as the police. “We were wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing protocols,” Narayanan told The Indian Express.
Reportedly, Deputy Commissioner (Zone 9) Abhishek Trimukhe and senior Inspector Parmeshwar Gamane of D N Nagar police took Narayanan to a private lab for test and from there he was escorted to the police station where he was arrested under section 41 (power to arrest without warrant) of CrPC and he was booked under sections 188 disobedience to order promulgated by government servant) and 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as under the Disaster Management Act.
Narayanan said that his phone was taken away and he was not allowed to contact other CITU members of even his lawyer. He was kept at a quarantine facility at West Blue hotel
The matter reached the Bombay High Court when a CITU member Mahendra Singh filed a habeas corpus petition stating that Narayanan’s detention shows “abuse of power exercised as a punitive measure to make an example of him”. In the hearings that followed, Narayanan got his phone back, court ordered he be given fresh clothes, then the police claimed that the BMC had detained him and BMC denied any knowledge of the same. Ultimately, the police said, “He was detained since he was seen coming out of a red zone area in Andheri (West) and was found to be residing in a containment zone.”
Later the court was informed that Narayanan had tested negative and that his 14 day quarantine had ended on May 4, a day before the hearing. The judge, Justice Revati Mohite-Dere, observed, “Quarantine cannot be used for preventive detention or a punitive measure” by the police to keep away people, who according to them, are of “nuisance value… A COVID-19 negative person may catch coronavirus in the facility.”
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