STATEMENT OF FACTS

PROLOGUE:
¶. Declaration of Pandemic: On 11.03.2020, the World Health Organisation declared the
outbreak out of contagious Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (hereinafter,
SARS-CoV-2 ) due to the Corona Virus (hereinafter, COVID-19) as a global pandemic. On
30.01.2020, The Union of Westeros, a country in South Asia with 1.3 billion people (i.e.
second most populous country) witnessed its first COVID-19 Case, and on 15.03.2020, an
official statement, from the Prime Minister of Westeros declared that the outbreak has
acquired the form of an epidemic in the country

¶. A study from The Centre for Monitoring Westeros’ Economy (hereinafter, the CMWE), a
government approved agency which monitors Westeros’ economy, found that the
unemployment rate is at 23.9% in the country and about 55% of them were employed either
in smallscale industries or in unorganized sectors. The lockdown orders mandated all public
places and educational institutions to be shut until further orders of the Government.

¶. Lockdown order: Amidst growing concerns about an economic downfall in an unplanned

lockdown, on 23.03.2020 the Prime Minister announced imposition of a public curfew for the
next two days, which eventually stretched to 28 days vide the Ministry of Home Affairs’
(hereinafter, MHA) order dated 25.03.2020 with effect from 26.03.2020. On 27.03.2020,
immediately, an explicit order (Annexure A-1) was released restricting all public movement
on highways and roads.

¶. The implications of stringent lockdown started to appear as the indigenous and

migrantworking class were abruptly hit with loss of means of livelihood and sustenance,
compelling them to travel back to their hometown resulting in social gathering at ISBTs, and
followed by pelted stones at the police thereby leading to detainment of 429 and 313 migrants
respectively in National Capital Territory (NCT) and Santa Cruz Town (SCT).

¶. Governement Response Plans: The COVID positive toll by 29.03.2020 reached to 2,389.
A US-based company, Dunder Miffin Laboratory Pvt. Ltd (hereinafter, DMPL) was given the
responsibility for storage of medical data of COVID-19 test samples. The company had also
been receiving the medical data of COVID patients from 18 countries. To combat the
economic crisis, the Westeros Government announced a relief package of ₹ Two Lakh
Eighty-Five Thousand Crore. Some extra benefits through various schemes like Prime
Ministers’ Relief Plan (PMRP), etc., distribution of extra five foodgrains, free gascylinders
and increase in the WNREGS wages by 15% was undertaken. To ease the movement of
migrants 25 special labor trains were arranged on 20.04.2020 and 15-20 shelter homes were
also set across different states but the COVID positive toll kept was whopping.

¶. Controversies on Michael Oliver’s News Report: Meanwhile, Mr. Michael Oliver,

senior journalist of the national newspaper “The First News Point” (FNP) published a
controversial report in the plight of the migrant workers and true affairs of the state, that
received immense backlash. On 18.04.2020, Mr. Oliver in his article entitled “The Ground
Report: Prime Minister of Westeros fails the country’s Poor” brought out some controversial
facts and accusations and warned of the government-sponsored fake data as they were under-
reported.

CONTENTIONS:
¶. [Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 540 of 2020]: Mr. Oliver received a huge criticism for
spreading governmental disaffection and 14 FIRs were filed against him under Section 124A
ofWesteros’ Penal Code and Section 54 of Disaster Management Act. To this Mr. Oliver
moved a petition [Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 540 of 2020] to the Supreme Court for
quashing these FIRs filed against him on the ground that thegovernment cannot gag the
freedom of journalists through such vindictive measures. The case hasbeen adjourned till
10.05.2020 and as an interim relief the Court granted protection toMr. Oliver from being
arrested.

¶. [Writ Petition (Civil) No. 123 of 2020]: On 22.04.2020, the NGO Organization for
Common Cause of Poor (OCCP), moved a Public Interest Litigation [Writ Petition (Civil)
No. 123 of 2020] before the SupremeCourt on behalf of indigenous and migrant workers who
were detained in SCT and NCT, that challenged the detention order dated 27.03.2020 of
MHA as arbitrary on theground that movement was unreasonably restricted without
providing any immediate e alternative rehabilitation to the indigenous people and a violation
of their fundamental rights. The PIL has been admitted and thegovernment has been directed
to file its reply within 12 days.

¶. [WritPetition (Civil) No. 234 of 2020]: On 25.04.2020 , the CMWE’s research stated that
the stringent lockdown has only catalyzed to sufferings and if the industrial sector is not
incentivized it may lead to financial emergency and collapse of economy. On 26.04.2020
three state governments suspended a few labor laws for 735 days (namely, The Factories Act
1945 except Section 5; The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947; The Payment of Wages Act, 1936
except Section 5; The Minimum Wages Act, 1948;The Bonus Act, 1965; The Employees’
State Insurance Act, 1948.) vide an Ordinance under Article 213 of the Constitution of
Westeros.

On 30.04.2020, Ms.Catherine Pearson, an activist litigant moved a Public Interest Litigation

[WritPetition (Civil) No. 234 of 2020] before the Supreme Court challenging the validity of
the impugned Ordinance of all three states and further challenged the sharing of data to a
foreign-private company (DMPL) on the ground of violation of right to privacy. The State
was required to file its reply within one week.

The Supreme Court has clubbed the impugned three petitions, inter alia, constituting a
Special 5-judges Bench to also consider the constitutional validity of the impugned matters.
(through virtual platform)

The Supreme Court has posted the matters for final hearing on 10th May, 2020.