While the pandemic diseases have progressed and taken brutal shape and forms, the Indian state is equipped with a precolonial Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 to deal with the vast challenges put forth by a pandemic. The country banked on age old techniques of quarantine, physical separation (incorrectly calling it social distancing) and a general practice of several trial and hit methods. This article examines the adequacy of the law in dealing with a pandemic in modern times that is riddled with complex economic relations, need for personal freedom and a huge amount of pressure on limited resources to deliver public health and safety in a self - acclaimed welfare state. It delves into various aspects of working through a pandemic where the law was found wanting or not actively assisting or supporting the efforts of the state and its enforcement agencies in curbing the pandemic