Bengaluru: The Central Government Friday said that the Aarogya Setu app is not mandatory for passengers traveling by air or rail.
Additional Solicitor General (AGS) MN Nargund informed a division bench of the Karnataka High Court that “A person can travel by air without having downloaded the Aarogya Setu app and the same thing applies for travel by railways. A self-declaration, though, will have to be given by the passenger.”
The petition was filed by digital rights activist Anivar Aravind, according to LiveLaw.
The petitioner had argued that the national directives issued by the Union Home Ministry regarding the use of the contact tracing app violates fundamental rights guaranteed under articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Indian Constitution.
Posting the matter for further hearing to July to, the court directed the state and the central government to file its statement of objections on the larger issues raised in the petition including violation of a user’s privacy and possible malicious use of the app.
It was also pointed out that the app discriminates against the poor as not everyone has a smartphone. Migrant labourers trying to board the trains back to their homes, would not be allowed to board the trains without the app as per Railways Tweet dated May 12, 2020.
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