On the second day of the lockdown, a 32-year-old West Bengal man died after he was allegedly beaten up by the West Bengal police for violating the lockdown guidelines laid down by the Union Home Ministry.
India went into lockdown since the midnight of Tuesday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced it on National Television. As per the rules by the Union Home Ministry, except essential services, all other services will either be shut down or will be operating from home. The essential services include vegetables, groceries, dairy products, etc.
Despite the lockdown, there were people seen on the streets and gathering at public places which potentially could have been exposed to the novel coronavirus. While few state governments opted for stricter measures like section 269, the Telangana Chief Minister KCR proposed shoot at sight orders. Even after that, there were incidents of people violating.
Even on the first day of the lockdown, there were reports of citizens misbehaving with the police authorities. While a man beat up a policeman in Bengaluru, a lady spat on a West Bengal officer. In Ernakulam, two youth were seen fighting with a constable.
Today, on the second day of the lockdown, an incident from Howrah, West Bengal says that a man who had been out to fetch milk died after being beaten up by the police. This is what the family of the man claims. The incident took place in Sankrail town’s Banipur locality where the 32-year-old man went to buy milk.
The man, now identified as Lal Swami, was allegedly beaten up by the police for violating lockdown guidelines. According to the claim by Swami’s wife, Swami was a part of the crowd the police lathi-charged. Post that, Swami was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The Deputy Commissioner of Howrah city has rubbished the allegation that the death of Swami had anything to do with the Lathicharge. However, as the situation became tense in the neighborhood, Rapid Action Force and police were deployed to stop any further escalations. The lockdown all over India is supposed to end on the 14th of April.
