Bombay HC advocate on community service trip to Gangtok, stuck in lockdown

Bombay HC advocate on community service trip to Gangtok, stuck in lockdown

Narsi BenwalUpdated: Monday, April 13, 2020, 11:30 PM IST
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Amritpal Singh |

Mumbai: A Sikh advocate from Mumbai, who went to Gangtok to render legal service to his community, has been stuck there for close to a month, since the nationwide lockdown announced by the Union government on March 24. He will now require an e-pass to enable him to get back home.

Amritpal Singh, 28, an advocate with the Bombay High Court, went to the north-eastern state on March 17, to appear in a legal matter pertaining to the Sikh community before the Sikkim High Court. "Initially, I had withdrawn the filed matter, with liberty to file a fresh one. The fresh plea was heard after a few days. Soon after that, the 21-day lockdown was announced," Singh told The Free Press Journal on phone.

"After learning about the lockdown, I filed another matter before the HC at Sikkim. I urged the HC to order the district collector to issue me an essential service pass, so that I could leave for Mumbai," he said.

The Sikkim HC, while refusing to pass any such order, asked Singh to make a representation before the district collector. "But my request was denied, which meant I had to spend the rest of the lockdown in Gangtok," Singh said.

"I managed to obtain a room on rent for a month.The room is barely habitable but I had no choice. When I reached the general store to purchase foodgrain, all I could buy were pulses, and only a few of these were available."

According to Singh, the local authorities in Gangtok refused to help him with food. "I learnt that local authorities were helping citizens with foodgrain and cooked food packets. But they refused to give me one, claiming that Sikkim was not my domicile of origin," he alleged.

He has been subsisting on pulses all these days. "All I want is to leave for Mumbai or at least move to the gurudwara, at a distance from Gangtok. But because of the lockdown there is no means of transport and I cannot leave my room, as local police is strictly monitoring movement," a distraught Singh said.

Lockdown successful here

His adverse circumstances, however, have not blinded his civic sensibilities. He is full of praise for the local authorities and police, in particular, for scrupulously implementing the lockdown.

"Fortunately, Sikkim has not recorded a single case yet. I can say this is because of the timely measures of the state government. On March 17 itself, Sikkim had closed its borders to tourists," Singh said.

When he landed here, police checked his temperature, gave him a form and a WhatsApp number to coordinate with them. "On this form, I am asked to record my body temperature daily and WhatsApp it to police. This helps them keep tabs on tourists and outsiders. I am told that a similar mechanism is in place for the locals too," Singh said.

Apart from this, the strict vigil kept by police is another reason for the success of the lockdown in this state, Singh says. "No one is allowed to get out of the house, as every lane has at least five policemen on patrol. It is only at night, when the cops leave do some locals come out for a stroll, taking care to maintain social distancing," he claimed.

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