In what can be called a shocking incident of high handedness by the authorities, the Maharashtra government booked a doctor after he called the Tablighi Jamaat chief a ‘terrorist’. Even worse, the name and work details of the doctor too have been released to the media.
According to a press release, “Offence was lodged against the doctor by police as preventive action. He was detained and issued notice as per law.”
Worst part is that police released name and work details of the doctor to media, and media published it too. This when a guy has been killed for comments. They could have held back personal info and just informed about the case if intention was to warn people. https://t.co/3yZeigncE9
— Rahul Roushan (@rahulroushan) April 7, 2020
The Aurangabad police has registered a non-cognizable offence against the doctor after he posted the Tablighi Jamaat chief Maulana Mohd. Saad Kandhalvi’s photograph on the social media along with a comment reading, “Wanted, please inform your local police if you have any input about location of this terrorist”.
Maulana Saad is wanted by Delhi Police for an offence under the relevant provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and is currently absconding. Earlier, the Tablighi Jamaat had organised a religious gathering attended by 8,000 preachers of different nationalities. The Tablighi Jamaat fiasco has led to the Coronavirus spreading to different corners of the country such as Assam, Tamil Nadu, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Kashmir, Telangana and Maharashtra.
The state of Maharashtra itself is the worst-hit in terms of the number of confirmed Coronavirus cases, with the number of recorded cases already exceeding 1,000. Owing to gross negligence of the Uddhav Thackeray government, Maharashtra is turning out to be India’s Hubei. And already in dire need of medical staff and doctors, Maharashtra wants to book doctors who violate the so-called “secular” principles of the country.
The fact that what happened in the Communist regime of China should be repeated in a state of Democratic India is highly absurd and flummoxing. This is a country where then Gujarat Chief Minister, and the present Prime Minister was called ‘maut ka saudagar (death merchant)’ by the President of the oldest political party in the country. Her son too had gone a step further accusing the Prime Minister of khoon ki dalali.
If the Gandhi mother-son duo had escaped unscathed, in the name of Freedom of Expression then why is the Aurangabad doctor being harassed for calling the absconding Maulana Saad a “terrorist”? Is the right to free speech confined to the Kanhaiyas and Khalids, who openly label the Indian Army personnel as ‘rapists’?
The Maharashtra government is clearly trying to hide its failures by launching such vindictive action against innocent doctors. There is an uncanny similarity between how China approached the Coronavirus outbreak- gross inefficiency buried under the carpet with a crackdown on doctor-whistleblowers.
The Uddhav Thackeray led Maha Vikas Aghadi government is clearly following the same model, and the detention of Dr. Sambhaji Govind Chitale could very easily be the state’s Dr. Li Wenliang moment.