Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed expressed his displeasure at the large number of people gathered in the Supreme Court during a hearing on Monday. Social distancing protocol to contain the rapid spread of coronavirus was not being followed in the courtroom, which irked the top judge.
The CJP asked the people gathered before the bench why they were not observing basic safety precautions. “Why are you sitting here?” he asked the lawyers, media persons and general public present in the courtroom. “I don’t want something to happen in this courtroom,” he said, referring to the risk of the virus transmission.
He urged the courtroom visitors to observe social distancing and take safety precautions. The CJP as well as the rest of the bench wore face masks in compliance with the government’s latest directives in response to the surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country.
The CJP’s concern comes in the wake of the latest report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicating that low-income countries are the worst impacted from the pandemic. The WHO also noted that a large part of their essential health services was redirected toward the prevention and treatment of coronavirus, at the cost of attention toward non-communicable diseases like cancer and diabetes.
The CJP asked the people gathered before the bench why they were not observing basic safety precautions. “Why are you sitting here?” he asked the lawyers, media persons and general public present in the courtroom. “I don’t want something to happen in this courtroom,” he said, referring to the risk of the virus transmission.
He urged the courtroom visitors to observe social distancing and take safety precautions. The CJP as well as the rest of the bench wore face masks in compliance with the government’s latest directives in response to the surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country.
The CJP’s concern comes in the wake of the latest report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicating that low-income countries are the worst impacted from the pandemic. The WHO also noted that a large part of their essential health services was redirected toward the prevention and treatment of coronavirus, at the cost of attention toward non-communicable diseases like cancer and diabetes.