Kohima, July 20 (MExN): Nagaland’s law students under the banner of Nagaland Law Students’ Federation (NLSF) on Tuesday flayed the State Government’s July 17 order that allegedly imposes compulsory inoculation or production of COVID-19 negative test reports after every 15 day interval, for employees of the Nagaland Civil Secretariat and Directorates.
It also said that the government’s decision to withhold salaries and mark the employee as being on leave without pay was “ultra vires ab initio (beyond the powers).”
Opposing the order in a press release on Tuesday, the NLSF Media and Communication Cell stated that the order was a “firsthand abrogation of the basic structure of the Constitution of India,” a direct challenge to Article 21 and also a contempt of court.
It referred to the legal position settled by the Supreme Court of India and various High Courts in the country against forced inoculation and right to choose the health and treatment for oneself and one’s children is intelligible and that a person has the fundamental right to choose medication as per his/her choice. “In as much as populace may hold genuine fears and anxieties about inoculations, one has the right to their personal and bodily autonomy irrespective of their thoughts about the inoculations,” it said while adding that it was an act of “Intellectual dishonesty; sophistry and straw man fallacy” to state that inoculation is the only solution.
Further stating that inoculation is voluntary and coercion is illegal, the NLSF reiterated that inoculation is not a full proof guarantee that any said person will get infected with virus and not transmit. It claimed that there are instances, several have died and suffered from serious adverse events after receiving the shots and asserted that any attempt to force, coerce, lure or pressure people to inoculate themselves by withholding salaries infringes the rights of citizens.
“The present scenario mandates restrictions which law permits but not at the cost of the lives of the citizens. Therefore, this order is thus unreasonable, unjust, unfair and biased. Hence, unconstitutional,” it added.
