News Analysis India

Tag: covid norms violation

  • J-K: Executive magistrate orders FIR against 10 PDP leaders for violating Covid norms

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: An executive magistrate in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district has directed police to register an FIR against 10 PDP leaders for allegedly violating Covid protocols at an event to mark party founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s death anniversary, officials said on Saturday.

    Reacting to the development, Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti said it appears that Covid norms apply only to her party and not to the BJP, which held a protest in Kashmir on Friday.

    The PDP also shared on Twitter a video purportedly showing the Anantnag deputy commissioner dancing without a face mask at a New Year’s Eve gathering.

    Others present at the event are also seen without masks.

    Executive Magistrate of Bijbehara tehsil has issued directions to the station house officer of the concerned police station to register an FIR against 10 PDP leaders for violating Covid-appropriate behaviour during a rally at Sayeed’s graveyard on Friday, the officials said.

    These leaders include Sartaj Madni, Sayeed’s brother-in-law who is a former deputy speaker of the legislative assembly, and former minister Abdul Rehman Veeri, they said.

    Hitting out at the administration over the order, Mehbooba tweeted, “Covid 19 restrictions apply only to PDP. Not to BJP’s protest in Kashmir yesterday, PMs rally in Punjab or the mass poojas attended by hundreds of people to pray for his safety. Talks volumes about J&K admin’s brazen bias against my party.”

    Mehbooba was also part of Friday’s gathering but was not named in the order of the executive magistrate.

    Later, the PDP posted on its Twitter handle the video purportedly showing the deputy commissioner of Anantnag dancing at a gathering where no one is wearing face masks.

    “Here DC Anantnag dancing on New Years eve without a mask where crowd ran into thousands but when it comes to PDP, COVID-19 suddenly resurfaces and turns political,” the party said.

  • 12 TMC activists arrested in Tripura for violating COVID norms

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: At least 12 leaders and workers of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), including those injured in an alleged attack by BJP workers on the previous day, were arrested in Tripura’s Khowai district on Sunday for “violating COVID norms”, police said.

    TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who is West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and the de facto number 2 in the party, reached Agartala and left for Khowai to meet the arrested party workers, who will be produced before a court amid tight security arrangements.

    Police said that the 12 TMC members were arrested for violating COVID restrictions by travelling after the imposition of night curfew at 7 pm.

    Tripura TMC spokesperson Ashish Lal Singh said that party leaders including himself, Debangshu Bhattacharya, Tania Poddar, Sudip Raha and Jaya Dutta have been arrested.

    Raha and Dutta had sustained injuries when their vehicle was allegedly attacked by BJP workers at Ambassa in Dhalai district on Saturday.

    “After the attack, we were returning to Agartala through National Highway 8 when the police stopped our vehicles at Khowai and took us into custody stating that there could be more attacks on us by ‘miscreants’.

    Indeed, BJP activists had gathered at several places on NH 8 to attack us,” Singh said.

    However, early in the morning, police said that the TMC members were arrested for violating COVID restrictions.

    Meanwhile, three senior TMC leaders, including Abhishek Banerjee, West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu and Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen, reached Agartala and left for Khowai to meet the arrested members.

    Banerjee had earlier visited Tripura on August 2, when his convoy was also allegedly attacked by BJP workers.

    Strongly criticising Saturday’s attack, TMC leaders alleged that the incident proved that there “goonda raj” (lawlessness) in Tripura, and the BJP has sensed its defeat in the 2023 assembly elections in the state.

    Denying the involvement of its activists in the attack, the BJP claimed that the TMC is a non-factor in Tripura, and West Bengal’s ruling party is spreading the “virus of political violence” in the northeastern state, where “outsiders” are fomenting trouble.

    Shortly after the incident, BJP and TMC supporters had faced off and staged road blockades 500 m apart on NH 8, forcing Chief Minister Biplab Deb to take a detour to return to Agartala after attending some programmes in Dharmanagar.

    TMC workers led by Subal Bhowmik, a former vice-president of Tripura BJP who recently switched sides, were protesting the alleged ransacking of a TMC party office by saffron party workers in Batarasi area of Dharmanagar on Friday night.

    The West Bengal CPI(M) has also criticised the attack, but also took a dig at the TMC alleging that it had kept mum when Left workers were earlier attacked in BJP-ruled Tripura.

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  • Maharashtra: Case against ‘organiser’ of wedding functions of MLA’s sons for COVID-19 norms violation

    By PTI
    PUNE: Police have registered a case against an “organiser” of the marriage functions of two sons of an MLA in Maharashtra’s Solapur district for alleged violation of COVID-19 norms at the event, an official said on Tuesday.

    The marriage ceremonies of the two sons of Rajendra Raut, the Independent legislator from Barshi town in Solapur, were held at the premises of Laxmi Sopan Agriculture Produce Committee there on Sunday.

    As per official guidelines, only 50 people are currently allowed to attend a marriage function in the state.

    However, according to police, 2,500-3,000 people allegedly attended the event in Barshi on Sunday and many were seen without masks and violating the social distancing norms.

    Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil and some other party leaders were also among the attendees.

    A case has been registered against one Yogesh Pawar, whom the police described as the “organiser” of the event, under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Disaster Management Act and the Epidemic Diseases Act.

    As per the FIR, while granting permission to Pawar for the event, it was informed that not more than 50 people will be allowed to attend the event and all attendees will wear masks and follow the social distancing norms.

    Dinanath Katkar, a social activist from Barshi, expressed surprise over registration of the case against Pawar, instead of parents of the brides and grooms.

    “The case has been registered against a person who is not well-known.

    The case should have been registered against the parents of those who got married and who own the premises where the event was held,” he said.

    Talking to PTI, Barshi city police station’s senior inspector S D Girigosavi said Pawar is one of the directors of the Laxmi Sopan Agriculture Produce Committee, on whose premises the event was held.

    “Since he had applied for permission and was the organiser of the ceremony, we registered a case against him.

    However, we are also considering adding the names of parents of the grooms in the case after checking the legalities” he said.

  • MP: 17 booked for holding ‘Kalash Yatra’ procession amid pandemic in Ratlam

    By PTI
    RATLAM: Madhya Pradesh police have registered a case against 17 persons for taking out ‘Kalash Yatra’, a religious procession at a village in Ratlam district of the state, in which hundreds of Hindu devotees reportedly took part in violation of the COVID-19 norms, an official said on Saturday.

    The district administration suspended a patwari (local revenue officer) and panchayat secretary, while a police official was also line-attached (removed from field duty), other officials said.

    A purported video of the procession that was held on June 3 shows several women holding ‘kalash’ (pots containing sacred water) on their heads along with hundreds of people participating in it has gone viral on social media.

    “An FIR has been registered against 17 persons for taking out ‘Kalash Yatra’ on Thursday in contravention of the COVID-19 restrictions at Barbodna village,” Namli police station in-charge V P Singh told reporters.

    Those named in the FIR include a priest, an owner of DJ vehicle and members of the organising committee, he said.

    The procession was part of a five-day long religious programme.

    Meanwhile, talking to reporters, district collector Kumar Purushottam said that the secretary of village panchayat and patwari of the area have been suspended for dereliction of duty.

    Superintendent of Police Gaurav Tiwari told PTI that a personnel of Namli police station, who was posted in the area, has been line-attached for carelessness during the duty.

    A gathering of more than six persons at a place has been banned in the state under ongoing restrictions in view of COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, only four persons can gather at a religious place.

    The FIR was registered under IPC sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of Disaster Management Act.

  • Police thrash woman for not wearing mask in public in Madhya Pradesh; two cops suspended

    By PTI
    SAGAR: A woman was allegedly beaten up and dragged by some police personnel on a road for not wearing a face mask while going out to buy vegetables amid the COVID- 19 pandemic in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district, leading the administration to suspend two cops on Thursday.

    After a video of the incident, which took place on Monday in Rahli town, went viral, a police official said the woman allegedly hit a female cop first.

    Taking the incident seriously, Sagar districts Superintendent of Police (SP) Atul Singh, after a probe, suspended Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) L N Tiwari and woman constable Archana Dimha.

    The two did not handle the situation in a professional manner and damaged the image of police,” said an order issued by the SP.

    The victim and her daughter were stopped by police around 11 am on Monday for not wearing face masks, a mandatory requirement during the coronavirus pandemic, as per case details.

    They had stepped out to buy vegetables.

    The police tried to take them away in a jeep to an open jail as punishment for not observing COVID-19-appropriate behaviour, but the duo resisted and allegedly hit a policewoman who was part of the patrolling team.

    In the video, some police personnel, including a female cop, could be seen beating up the woman, pushing her down and dragging her by the hair.

    However, Rahli’s sub-divisional officer of police, Kamal Singh, said the “video showed only half the incident”.

    “The woman hit a female cop first and the latter had bruises on her face of an injury caused by nails,” he said.

  • Police thrash woman for not wearing mask in public in Madhya Pradesh; two cops suspended

    By PTI
    SAGAR: A woman was allegedly beaten up and dragged by some police personnel on a road for not wearing a face mask while going out to buy vegetables amid the COVID- 19 pandemic in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district, leading the administration to suspend two cops on Thursday.

    After a video of the incident, which took place on Monday in Rahli town, went viral, a police official said the woman allegedly hit a female cop first.

    Taking the incident seriously, Sagar districts Superintendent of Police (SP) Atul Singh, after a probe, suspended Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) L N Tiwari and woman constable Archana Dimha.

    The two did not handle the situation in a professional manner and damaged the image of police,” said an order issued by the SP.

    The victim and her daughter were stopped by police around 11 am on Monday for not wearing face masks, a mandatory requirement during the coronavirus pandemic, as per case details.

    They had stepped out to buy vegetables.

    The police tried to take them away in a jeep to an open jail as punishment for not observing COVID-19-appropriate behaviour, but the duo resisted and allegedly hit a policewoman who was part of the patrolling team.

    In the video, some police personnel, including a female cop, could be seen beating up the woman, pushing her down and dragging her by the hair.

    However, Rahli’s sub-divisional officer of police, Kamal Singh, said the “video showed only half the incident”.

    “The woman hit a female cop first and the latter had bruises on her face of an injury caused by nails,” he said.