Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Thursday directed the government to handover the overseas returnees to the law enforcers to keep them in a 14-day mandatory quarantine.
The court ordered the Home Secretary to deploy the law enforcers to escort the overseas returnees to the hospitals or shelter houses for keeping them in a 14-day compulsory quarantine after their arrival in the country.
It also asked the Health Secretary to impart necessary medical test and treatment to the overseas returnees soon after their arrival as the hospitals or shelter houses up to 14 days of their arrival or any longer period if any returnees is found to be infected with coronavirus.
The Cabinet Secretary is directed to ask its respective Deputy Commissioners to monitor the treatment and welfare of the overseas returnees so long they stay in quarantine. The Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary is directed to ensure handing over the overseas returnees to the law enforcing agencies deployed at the instance of Home Secretary for making compulsory quarantine period effective.
The Health Secretary is directed to provide particulars of the overseas returnees who are kept in quarantine, that of the treatment provided to infected persons and with coronavirus and release of non-infected returnees positively on April 16 this year.
The High Court bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim passed the order and issued rule after hearing a writ petition filed by a Supreme Court lawyer, Eunus Ali Akond, in the context of coronavirus outbreak.
In the rule, the court asked the respondents to show cause as to why they should not be directed to ensure compliance of 14 days compulsory stay in quarantine of the overseas returnees from their arrival through five different land ports, three airports and three seaports of the country.
The court also wanted to know in the rule as to why the respondents should not be directed to render medical test and proper treatment soon after the arrival of the overseas returnees and to keep them in quarantine so long they have been found to be infected with coronavirus.
The respondents have been asked to comply with the rule within two weeks.
In the order, the court said our country should not be any exception to that restriction what the affected country has already taken, because right to life is a basic fundamental human right of every citizen guaranteed by our constitution and to protect such right the government must take appropriate measures so that not a single human being dies unattached and untreated.
