Covid-19: Fourteen arrested for obstructing Chennai neurosurgeon’s burial charged under Goondas Act
A mob had attacked a group of doctors and health workers who were trying to bury the surgeon.
Fourteen people arrested in Chennai for attacking doctors and health workers during the burial of a neurosurgeon who died of Covid-19 last month have been charged under the stringent Goondas Act, PTI reported on Friday. The Goondas Act is meant to be invoked against habitual offenders.
“The accused were detained under the [Goondas] Act as part of crime prevention activities,” the Chennai police said in a press release, according to PTI. “The 14 people have been repeatedly involved in criminal activities and therefore detained under the Goondas Act following Commissioner of Police AK Viswanathan’s order.”
A prominent neurosurgeon from Chennai had died on April 19 after a two-week battle with Covid-19. Civic officials granted permission for his body to buried at a cemetery in Kilpauk area. But outside the graveyard, a crowd afraid of being infected by the virus forced the ambulance to turn away.
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The ambulance driver then turned towards a burial ground in Anna Nagar, where protesting locals not only blocked the path but also attacked the driver and others in the vehicle with sticks and stones. They broke the vehicle’s windows and injured the driver, a sanitation worker and a civic official, forcing everyone in the ambulance to abandon the body for a while and seek safety.
Later in the night, three of the surgeon’s colleagues, dressed in complete protective gear, returned to the cemetery with a police escort and buried him themselves. The incident had sparked massive outrage. The police had arrested nearly 20 people.
Last week, the Tamil Nadu government issued an ordinance stating that any attempt to block the funeral or last rites of a Covid-19 patient will be a criminal offence, inviting up to three years in prison.
On April 22, the Centre approved amendments to the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, to ensure that any attack on doctors or health workers will be liable to a penalty of anywhere between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 5 lakh. Such attacks are now non-bailable offences and will carry an imprisonment from six months to seven years.
Tamil Nadu has 2,323 cases of the coronavirus, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Twenty-seven people have died of Covid-19 in the state.