Police in India’s West Bengal state had to baton charge some residents of Bankura district after they blocked a crematorium to protest the cremation of two bodies of alleged COVID-19 patients on Tuesday night.
A video of the police action, showing the use of batons to disperse the protesting crowd, is going viral. People can be seen running to save themselves.
Villagers protest in Bankura district against Police cremating body of 65 yr old man who died of cough&fever.Unclear if he died of COVID-19.Villagers said Police bringing bodies of COVID-19 patients in middle of night at cremation grounds.Police resorted to lathicharge @fpjindia pic.twitter.com/3BNesWTdzx
— Prema Rajaram (@prema_rajaram) April 15, 2020
Residents claimed that they sensed foul play when two alleged COVID-19 patients were being cremated at night without any relatives, while health workers wore face masks.
West Bengal state’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party’s IT head slammed the governing Trinamool Congress party for refusing to acknowledge any deaths in the state.
Over the last 48 hrs, West Bengal government has refused to acknowledge even a single Covid +ive death in the state. At the same time, Bengal police lathicharged locals last night, protesting clandestine cremation of dead bodies in Bankura.
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) April 15, 2020
CM Mamata holds both Home and Health. https://t.co/GOBnKbfeWQ
According to the federal Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the country has reported 11,439 people as the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, while as many as 377 have lost their lives due to the virus and 1,305 have recovered from the deadly disease. However, there are 9,756 active cases of coronavirus patients.
