Blog

30 July 2020

Tl;dr

Today, 135 individuals including a large number of lawyers and 7 organizations sent a representation to the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court and various District & Sessions Judges against Aarogya Setu being mandatory for accessing Delhi District Courts. The representation highlights that such a requirement is likely to create barriers to justice, compromise the privacy of lawyers and their clients, and it has no basis in law.

Background

After a prolonged period of disrupted functioning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, physical filings have recently resumed in courts in Delhi. Different district courts have issued guidelines for this purpose which seek to prevent the spread of the virus within the court premises through measures such as wearing of masks and avoiding crowding. However, the Protocol issued for the South and South East District also mandates use of the Aarogya Setu mobile app by any lawyers, clerks or litigants who wish to enter the court premises.

The Aarogya Setu app has been the subject of significant controversy, and concerns have been raised about the privacy and security of sensitive personal data collected by the app about a user's health and location. These objections also prompted the Ministry of Home Affairs to backtrack on its decision to make Aarogya Setu mandatory (read more here) and its most recent Unlock 3.0. Guidelines clarify that use of Aarogya Setu is only required on a best efforts basis.

Today i.e. 30 July 2020, 135 individuals including a large number of lawyers and 7 organizations sent a representation to the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court and various District & Sessions Judges against Aarogya Setu being mandatory for accessing courts in Delhi. The representation highlights that such a requirement is likely to create barriers to justice, compromise the privacy of lawyers and their clients, and it has no basis in law. We are extremely grateful to Mansi Sood who brought this important issue to our notice, drafted the representation and steered this entire effort.

Concerns about Exclusion & Privacy

Even in urban centres like Delhi, only 30-50% of the residents own Bluetooth compatible smartphones. As a result, making the Aarogya Setu mobile app a pre-condition for entry into court complexes will exclude a significant number of advocates, clerks and litigants (especially those who visit legal aid centers). Many lawyers are struggling to make ends meet due to disrupted functioning of courts during the COVID-19 pandemic, and forcing them to purchase a smartphone will only increase their suffering.

Mandatory imposition of Aarogya Setu in judicial establishments could also undermine attorney-client confidentiality. Aarogya Setu collects sensitive personal data including the location of persons and the potential for misuse of such data compromises this basic principle that forms the bedrock of the legal profession. Further, as per the Terms of Use of the app, such data is shared with unspecified government entities and third parties. In the absence of an adequate data protection framework in place, mandating the use of this application within court complexes greatly undermines the privacy and data security of all persons within these premises.

In light of these concerns, the representation recommends that the following measures to be undertaken:

Convene a meeting of all District Judges for a standardised SOP which recognises the challenges and concerns in the use of Aarogya Setu for court complexes.
Recognise the concerns associated with Aarogya Setu and issue an advisory clarifying that use of the app should not be made mandatory for any physical filing or securing entry into any judicial or court complexes in Delhi, including all District Courts as well as the Delhi High Court.
Ensure strict implementation of methods of risk mitigation outlined by the Ministry of Home Affairs, including but not limited to social distancing, face covering and regular sanitisation, within judicial/court complexes.

List of Endorsees

Organizations

Organizations1. Balwani Law Chambers2. Chambers of Joshi & Singh3. Internet Freedom Foundation4. Kaushal & Partners5. Medianama6. Volunteers Collective7. Women in Criminal Law Association

Individuals1.AamodLawyer2.Abhinav BakoliaAdvocate3.AbhishekEngineer4.Adarsh RamakrishnanLawyer5.Aditya KumarLawyer6.Adv. Ansar IndoriLawyer7.Agam SharmaAdvocate8.Agnish AdityaAdvocate9.Ajay SinghLawyer10.Akshita RainaVolunteer11.AldrinEntrepreneur12.Amala DasarathiAdvocate13.Ambar BhushanAdvocate14.AmiyaStudent15.Anandh VenkataramaniAdvocate16.Anandita SharmaLawyer17.Anas TanwirAdvocate18.Anjali RawatResearcher in Law, Oxford University19.Ankit ParasharAdvocate20.AnkitaAdvocate21.Anmol BhartiAdvocate22.Anshul BajajAdvocate23.Apar GuptaAdvocate24.Arijit SarkarSelf employed25.Arijita SenPsychologist26.Arjit BhartiyaLegal Consultant27.AsimStudent28.Athul R T29.Avi SinghLawyer30.Avi SrivastavaAdvocate31.Bismanjit Singh SabharwalLawyer32.Chandan GoswamiLawyer33.Chitranshul SinhaAdvocate34.Deepanshu AroraAdvocate35.Deepriya SnehiAdvocate36.Devdutta MukhopadhyayAdvocate37.Devvrat JoshiLawyer38.Dhiliphan Madhav M CStudent39.Divya SrinivasanLawyer40.Dr. V. VisvanathanComputer Technologist (Retired)41.GaneshResearcher42.Harsh RajLaw Student43.Harsh SharmaLaw Student44.Harshita VaidStudent45.Hemanth PothulaAdvocate46.Ilin SaraswatAdvocate47.Indrapramit DasWriter48.Ish MainiLawyer49.Jahnavi SindhuAdvocate50.Jennis StephenLawyer51.Karishma MariaAdvocate52.Kaushal KishoreLawyer53.Kaustav SahaAdvocate, Delhi High Court54.Kaustubh MehtaLaw Student55.Keerthana56.Khushboo PareekAdvocate57.Kushan ChakrabortyAdvocate58.Lakshmi Kruttika VijayAdvocate59.Layal AyoubWriter60.Mangla VermaAdvocate61.Mansi SoodAdvocate62.Mary MitzyAdvocate63.Mayank AggarwalAdvocate64.Meera Chature SankhariAdvocate65.MeghaGandhi Fellow66.Mihir SamsonAdvocate67.MishikaAdvocate68.Mukarram AliEngineer69.Mukesh GargAdvocate70.N. Sai VinodAdvocate-on-Record71.Naman JoshiAdvocate72.Namita SoodEnvironmentalist73.NamrataLawyer74.NeelakantanEditor75.Neelambika SinghLawyer76.Nikhil PahwaFounder and Editor, Medianama77.Nikitha SurabhiAdvocate78.Ninad JaneProfessor79.Niranjan Bharathi R BEngineer80.Nitika KhaitanAdvocate81.Pamela PhilposeJournalist82.Pankaj JangirLawyer83.Pooja SaigalLawyer84.Pranav AroraAdvocate, Supreme Court of India85.Pratik TiwariLawyer86.Pratyush PriyadarshiData Scientist87.Priyashree Sharma PhAdvocate88.Purbitaa MitraAdvocate89.PyoliLawyer90.R L SinhaLawyer91.Rabindranath MishraIT Job92.Radhika RoyAdvocate93.Rahul RajamuthiahEntrepreneur94.Rajagopalan VProfessional95.Raman Jit Singh ChimaLawyer and Policy Analyst96.RamaseshanSoftware Engineer and Technology Activist97.RaunakLaw Student98.Rina KamathLegal Practitioner99.RishabLawyer100.Rudrajit GhoshAdvocate101.S. RamaAdvocate102.S. SreeshAdvocate103.Sachendra SinhaRetired Professor104.SachinStudent105.Sakkir Ahmed HussainAdvocate106.Sanjana SrikumarAdvocate107.Sanjoli MehrotraLawyer108.Sarvjeet SinghLawyer109.Saurabh BalwaniLawyer110.Saurav SharmaAdvocate111.Setu Bandh UpadhyayAdvocate112.Shailesh PoddarAdvocate113.ShambhuStudent114.Shamik GuptaStudent115.Shantanu SinghAdvocate116.Sharmistha GhoshAdvocate117.Shiv YadavArchitect118.Shivam RaiTechnology Research and Consultation119.Shraddha ChaudharyLecturer120.Shreedhar KaleAdvocate, Delhi High Court121.Shreya MunothLawyer122.Shreyansh RathiAdvocate123.Siddhant ShrivastavaAdvocate124.Sonal SardaLawyer, New Delhi125.Sonia ThomasMedia126.Srishti JoshiAdvocate127.Sunit Kumar MondalAdvocate128.Swati JainLawyer129.TanviAdvocate130.Tulika ChikkerLawyer131.Vaishnavi ViswanathanLawyer132.Venkateshan KData Scientist133.Vinayak MehrotraAdvocate134.Vishal SinghAdvocate135.Vrinda BhandariLawyer