The Manipur High Court has observed that the State Government cannot intimidate people and induce vaccinations by denying them the food grains and supplies which are to be given to the poorer section of the society from the Prime Minister’s Garib Kalyan Yojana. A statement by a representative of people that food grains would be denied to those who have not taken the vaccine was pointed out by a senior advocate during the hearing of a plea surrounding ensuring of the rights of the marginalised communities, filed by a transgender activist. The case against such a proposed move was that denying food grains for inducing vaccinations would infringe upon the fundamental rights of the people, no matter what the underlying reason is. The Bench, agreeing to the same, stated that it is up to the state to inform and educate people, so that they voluntarily vaccinate themselves. “Intimidating measures cannot be adopted”, the court stated.
