To file non-urgent matters at the Saket Court Complex in Delhi, petitioners and their lawyers must have Aarogya Setu downloaded on their phone, according to the protocol for physical filing of non-urgent/ordinary matters issued by District and Sessions Judges Neena Bansal Krishna (South-East) and Poonam A. Bamba (South) on July 15. Rights group, the Internet Freedom Foundation first tweeted about this. According to the protocol, all advocates, parties in person, advocates’ clerks who enter the Saket Court Complex will undergo mandatory thermal screening, and no one with symptoms of cough, fever, running nose, etc. will be allowed entry. Naveen Siwas, the Junior Judicial Assistant for South District, and Manju Kanojia, the Senior Judicial Assistant for South East District, told MediaNama that the app is mandatory for all court staff too. “We received a circular about it [being compulsory for court staff],” Kanojia said. Siwas said that phones are not checked every day while Kanojia said that they are not checked at all. Both maintained that the app is “for our own safety”. When we asked Siwas if journalists would also need the app, he said that for entrance to all government buildings, Aarogya Setu is compulsory. Siwas said that for urgent matters, even people without smartphones, that is those who cannot download the app, would be allowed entry. On reminding him that this is the protocol for non-urgent matters, he said, “Today, all lawyers have smartphones.” When we asked him what would happen if petitioners did not have a smartphone,…
