Attack on paramedical staff and doctors, who are risking their lives to save people’s lives, will not be tolerated at any cost, says Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Indore| The Indore district administration on Thursday invoked the National Security Act, 1980, against four persons accused of instigating residents of a locality to pelt stones and chase away doctors on Wednesday.
“We have arrested 13 of the accused. The Act has been invoked against four of them,” Vivek Sharma, Inspector General of the Police, Indore Zone, confirmed to The Hindu.
A joint team of health workers, revenue officials, Anganwadi workers, municipal officials and police personnel were visiting the tatpatti bakhal area of the city to trace the contact history of a COVID-19 patient when they were pelted with stones, said a note issued by the Collectorate.
With more than 75 coronavirus cases reported in the city between March 24 and April 2, Indore in MP has become the latest cause of worry for authorities.
Most people who have tested positive so far live in small houses in congested localities and authorities are figuring out the source of infection because nobody in the areas had travelled abroad.
The only international flight taking off from MP flies between Indore and Dubai. Authorities believe the flight could be the possible source of infection.
Also Read: Medical student in Mumbai commits suicide after casteist slurs by seniors
More than 90 per cent of the positive cases in Indore have been reported from 10 localities, including Ranipura, Nayapura, Khajrana, Tatpatti Bakal, Daulatganj and Silawatpura. It is the Tatpatti Bakhal neighbourhood where residents attacked a team comprising doctors, ASHA workers and revenue officials on Wednesday.
Fake WhatsApp videos claiming that healthy Muslims are being taken away and injected with the virus have been doing the rounds of Tatpatti Bakhal and adjoining localities.
The team attacked on Wednesday had gone to identify family members of a 65-year-old man who died of COVID-19.
“They were cooperating in the beginning and answered a few questions before suddenly attacking,” a member of the help team recounted.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
