3,000 covid infected go 'missing' in Bengaluru, to be traced by police: R Ashok
Bengaluru, Apr 28: Posing another challenge to the already overburdened system tackling the covid crisis, about 3,000 infected people have gone missing in the city and many have switched off their phones, prompting the government to task the police to trace them.
Karnataka Revenue Minister R Ashoka claimed that the missing people are spreading the disease, in a state that has seen the positive cases skyrocket in the past few days.
On Wednesday, the southern state recorded its highest single-day spike of 39,047 cases and 229 deaths, with Bengaluru Urban logging 22,596 of those infections.
Ashoka said police have been asked to trace the missing people. However, the police remained tight-lipped on their strategy to track the 'missing' individuals.
Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said the issue of the infected going missing has been going on for the past one year.
"We are giving free medicines to the people, which can control 90 per cent of cases, but they (covid-infected people) have switched off their mobile phones."
"They reach hospitals in a critical stage, desperately looking for ICU beds. This is what is happening now," Ashoka told reporters.
He said most of the infected people have switched off their phones and are not letting people know about their whereabouts, which is making things difficult.
"I feel that at least 2,000 to 3,000 people in Bengaluru have switched off their phones and left their houses. We don't know where they have gone," he added.
Appealing to the infected people to keep their phones switched on, Ashoka said police have been asked to track them.
"I pray to them with folded hands that covid cases will only increase due to this (behaviour). It is wrong when you reach for ICU beds at the last moment," the minister said.
Agreeing with his cabinet colleague, Sudhakar said this problem has been going on for the past one year.
"At least 20 per cent of the patients do not respond to our phone calls...police will track them in their own way," Sudhakar said.
"Some switch off their phones, some migrate to other states and some do not answer the calls," the Minister added.
To stem the spread of the contagion, happening at an alarming pace, the state government has imposed a 14-day lockdown starting Tuesday, restricting unnecessary movement of people.
There were 3,28,884 active cases in the state on Wednesday, with 2,192 of them receiving treatment in the Intensive Care Units (ICU) of various hospitals.
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HC seeks mechanism on disclosure of complaints against judges after SC says no data maintained
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court sought suggestions for a framework to balance transparency and judicial independence on April 1, after the Supreme Court submitted that it does not maintain judge-specific data on complaints alleging corruption or misconduct.
The submission was made by Advocate Rukhmini Bobde. He appeared for the Supreme Court’s Central Public Information Officer, before Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav in a petition filed by journalist and RTI activist Saurav Das. The case concerns an RTI application filed by Das in April 2023 seeking information on whether any complaints had been received against Justice T. Raja, former Acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, and if so, the number of such complaints and action taken.
According to a detailed report published by The Wire, the CPIO declined the request and stated that the information was “not maintained in the manner as sought for.” The first appellate authority upheld the decision. Although the Central Information Commission remanded the matter, the CPIO reaffirmed the refusal on similar grounds, which led Das to move the high court through Advocate Prashant Bhushan.
At the hearing, Justice Kaurav observed that the issue had wider institutional implications. It directed both sides to propose a mechanism that would protect the reputation of judges while ensuring public access to information regarding the handling of complaints. The case, Saurav Das v. CPIO, Supreme Court of India has been listed for further hearing on May 7.
During the arguments, Bhushan cited numbers released by the Union Law Ministry in Parliament in February 2026, which said that 8,630 complaints had been filed against sitting judges between 2016 and 2025. The Supreme Court provided data showing that complaints increased from 729 in 2016 to 1,102 in 2025. Bhushan questioned how aggregate data could be calculated without identifying the judges against whom complaints were filed.
Bobde responded that the data shared with Parliament reflected only total complaints against all sitting judges and did not involve judge-wise categorisation. She referred to the RTI request as a "fishing and roving inquiry." She also claimed that the Registry could not be forced to spend resources to collect material that was not stored in the format sought. She referenced the 2019 Constitution Bench decision in Supreme Court of India v. Subhash Chandra Agarwal, which allows for rejection if compliance will disproportionately divert resources, as her justification.
The high court questioned how no judge-specific information was maintained and expressed concern that disclosure of large aggregate figures without clarity on how complaints were handled could affect public perception. Justice Kaurav noted that an applicant could not be denied information solely on technical grounds relating to format.
Bhushan argued that the RTI request did not seek details of complaint contents or collegium deliberations but merely whether complaints were received and what action followed, submitting that transparency in the handling of complaints was essential to maintain public confidence.
The Supreme Court’s in-house procedure for examining complaints, adopted in 1999, provides for scrutiny by the Chief Justice of India and, where warranted, inquiry by a committee of judges. There is no statutory requirement for public reporting of outcomes.
