In a shocking incident, 100 people gathered for a religious congregation at the Rajasthan’s Ajmer Dargah as the country struggles to adhere to the lockdown guidelines. Later, the Police had to use mild force to disperse the crowd and contain the situation.
India is a week into the 21-day lockdown that is being projected as the country’s best bet in containing the epidemic that originated in China at the far end of 2019. Despite strict measures and an appeal by the Prime Minister, one cannot say that the lockdown is being successfully implemented. There have been videos circulating in social media about people’s unnecessary mobility in big cities.
100 gather at Ajmer Dargah
In Rajasthan’s Ajmer, as per the tradition, a chadar is offered every year by the Khadims of Ajmer Dargah to the dargah in Sarwar. The tradition has fallen into a place in the calendar when the entire nation is under lockdown to contain a virus. Over 100 people gathering in one place during a medical crisis is nothing but a brewing place of a biological bomb.
The event had police permission from the Superintendent of Police, Ajmer, Kunwar Rastradeep. However, the permit was only for five people and later the rest of them joined in at the Sarwar Dargah. The police reportedly asked them to vacate the place and only after their refusal that the police were forced to use mild force to disperse the crowd. Six people have been arrested under Indian Penal Code Section 151.
This comes at a time when the security officials are tracking the people who took part in a Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi. Tablighi Jamaat Congregation has become the hotbed of the outbreak in the country after six of them died in Telangana after attending the congregation.
Social media too has erupted against the congregation and has criticized the need for it. While there has been debate about the date of the event, the Delhi government has filed FIRs against the organizers after over 50 people from the congregation tested positive in the country. Close to 1,548 have been evacuated and 441 have been admitted to the hospital.
