Even as physical assaults on medical teams and healthcare workers, including doctors and nurses continue unabated in India, owing to the sick mentality of a few deranged patients, a shocking episode from Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad has come to light. The incident, which took place in Nawabpur area of Moradabad has exposed how a certain ever-agitated community is making life hell for our healthcare workers.
A team of health workers and police was attacked in Haji Neb Masjid area of Moradabad on Wednesday when they went to pick up a suspected COVID-19 patient and his family. The patient in question here is the younger brother of one Sartaj, who, on April 13th lost his life to COVID-19. The younger brother had developed fever, and the medical team was taking him to a quarantine facility.
#Breaking | Shocker from Uttar Pradesh. Stone pelting in 108 ambulance vans in Moradabad, doctors & police officials were also injured during the incident.
TIMES NOW's Amir Haque with details. pic.twitter.com/v9Wcy38RbS
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) April 15, 2020
The ghetto in Moradabad to which Sartaj belonged was declared a hotspot by authorities on April 13th. As the medical team reached the household in question, a wild mob descended upon them and started arguing with them. Despite the team trying to explain to the rogue mob that they were merely doing their duty and that it was unsafe for infected individuals to stay in clustered ghetto’s like theirs, the mob started pelting stones on them.
In the ensuing violence against the medical teams, four vehicles and an ambulance were damaged. The healthcare workers, including a doctor, sustained grievous injuries. Stones were also violently pelted at the police reinforcement vehicles which arrived at the spot later.
Moradabad: Some people pelted stones at medical team&police which had gone to take a person possibly infected with #COVID."When our team boarded ambulance with patient,suddenly crowd emerged&started pelting stones.Some doctors are still there.We are injured,"says ambulance driver pic.twitter.com/Rpo5jDRuJY
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 15, 2020
“The miscreants illegally confined doctor H.C. Mishra while a technician was seriously injured. The PPE suits of the team members were torn off. The four policemen who went with the team had to retreat. One of them was injured,” an official was quoted as saying.
Deeply disturbing. This is Dr. SC Agarwal who was attacked by a mob in Moradabad of Uttar Pradesh when he went there for screening of suspected #CoronaVirus patients. Goons attacked doctors as well as cops. Now 17 people have been arrested under 19 different sections of the IPC. pic.twitter.com/do5AL7Oj1V
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) April 16, 2020
The police has arrested over 25 people in relation with the violence. CM Yogi Adityanath is himself monitoring the situation, and he took to his Twitter handle to strongly condemn the gruesome attack on the medical teams and police. Yogi further informed that all damages incurred would be compensated from the perpetrators of the violence.
In addition to the perpetrators coughing up large amounts of fine, they would also be charged under the stringent National Security Act (NSA).
स्वास्थ्य विभाग के डॉक्टर्स व कर्मी, सभी सफाई अभियान से जुड़े अधिकारी/कर्मचारी, सुरक्षा में लगे सभी पुलिस अधिकारी व पुलिस विभाग के कर्मी इस आपदा की घड़ी में दिन रात सेवा कार्य में जुटे हैं।
— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) April 15, 2020
मुरादाबाद में पुलिस, स्वास्थ्य एवं स्वच्छता अभियान से जुड़े कर्मियों पर हमला एक अक्षम्य अपराध है, जिसकी घोर निंदा की जाती है।
ऐसे दोषी व्यक्तियों के खिलाफ आपदा प्रबंधन अधिनियम तथा राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा अधिनियम (NSA) के तहत कार्रवाई की जाएगी।— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) April 15, 2020
The attack on life-threatening attack on the medical team and police has created a storm on social media, the winds of which have not yet touched liberals. Nevertheless, the visuals which have emerged from the Haji Neb Masjid Area show that the residents have turned it into a fortress.
This statement from medical staff — willing to take risks every second of their life — as they share their anxieties following attack in Moradabad should worry us.
"Aise naukri humai nahi karni hai"
Speaks volumes about their stress pic.twitter.com/guTfK41QFh
— Rohan Dua (@rohanduaTOI) April 15, 2020
What else explains the rooftops of buildings having an almost unlimited supply of huge stones, which were seen being thrown by women? Why should a community resist help offered for their own well-being, and in the process, endanger the lives of those trying to help them?
Moradabad: Some people pelted stones at medical team&police personnel who had gone to take the family of a #COVID19 positive patient (who died recently), to take them to a quarantine facility. 3 people were injured including a doctor & pharmacist. pic.twitter.com/v5dyadJK85
— ajitsinh Jagirdar 🇮🇳 #We_The_Threadeans (@AjitsinhJagirda) April 15, 2020
While the narrow colony was filled with a rogue and blood-thirsty mob, the women held fort from above. It is important to note that such women pose a grave danger to society, as, contrary to being understanding towards authorities, they in fact are throwing boulders on them with an intention of no less than killing them.
Under Yogi Adityanath, however, the dynamics of Uttar Pradesh have drastically changed. Ghettos in which the police previously wouldn’t dare enter have now been thrown open for law enforcing agencies. Part of the murderous tendencies of the mob must have stemmed from the fact that the police under Yogi government dared to enter their ‘area’.
The usage of NSA must be popularized in order to prevent such deadly attacks on healthcare workers and police from taking place in the future. Further, if certain people do not want medical aid, the authorities should simply seal their area and let the concerned people meet their inevitable fate, whatever that might be.
