The state government has changed its stance on collecting CDRs of COVID-19 patients as part of contact tracing. On Wednesday, the government informed the High Court that only tower location details needs to be monitored instead of the Call Detail Record (CDR) of the patients to ensure that a quarantined person was not roaming around. The government informed it in court while HC was considering opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala’s petition against collecting CDR of patients.
Responding to the government’s statement, the court stated that there will no be no issues if only the tower location of the patients are recorded. The court asked the government to submit a detailed affidavit on Friday if they need to collect any other deatils of the patients.
Earlier the government had decided to collect complete CDR of the patients.
But opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala moved a petition at the High Court alleging that the CDR collection is anti-constitutional. He also pointed out the Supreme Court verdict in Muthu Swamy case.
Earlier, Ramesh Chennithala had publicly protested against the government’s decision to collect CDR of patients.
“Police officials are violating the rights of COVID patients by collecting their call details. The Supreme Court has ruled that privacy is also a fundamental right. So, when police collect the call details of the patients, the rights of the patients assured by the constitution, are being violated. Police have no right to collect the call details of the patients. They are only COVID patients, not accused in any case,” Ramesh Chennithala had alleged.
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