FILE PHOTO: Friends and family at the funeral of a loved one at the Mosquito Creek Cremation Site under covid19 restrictions in June. – A HIGH COURT judge has ruled as unlawful, covid19 regulations which make it a criminal offence if someone breaches the guidelines for places of worship. But he also dismissed a claim that people’s rights to practise their religions were being affected by the guidelines. The ruling was made on Friday by Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh on two constitutional claims which challenged the validity of the coronavirus public health regulations. Before him were two separate claims – one brought by Pundit Satyanand Maharaj and another by five men – Dominic Suraj, Marlon Hinds, Christopher Wilson, Bruce Bowen and Collin Ramjohn – who were arrested at Alicia’s Guest House in St Ann’s at an alleged covid19 party on April 9. They were later charged with breaching the regulations. These were the first cases to test the covid19 regulations. In his decision, Boodoosingh held that the regulations made by the minister were permissable under the public health ordinance. “It also seems to me that public health regulations to prevent the spread of infectious and dangerous diseases fall within a […]
