The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) welcomes any legal protection so necessary for our health workers in the fight against the pandemic.
However, the ordinance issued by the President of India has certain serious flaws. Section 3 (c) and 3 (d) together violate the principle of common law accepted and followed by all countries in the world including the criminal law jurisprudence in India on the vital issue of presumption of innocence until proven guilty. These two sections together overturn this principle on its head. This is open to gross misuse, harassment and targeting.
Hence these two clauses 3(c) and 3(d) must be removed from the ordinance.
For CPI(M) Central Committee Office