PATNA
Days after a wedding function near Patna left around 80 people infected with Covid-19, the district administration Thursday said it would take action under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, against the family members of the groom, who had been suffering from high fever and died two days after his marriage on June 15 without being tested.
Patna’s district magistrate Kumar Ravi has asked the sub divisional officer (SDO), Paliganj, where the groom’s family lived, to conduct a probe as to how more than 50 people participated in the wedding ceremony and whether or not social distancing norms and other precautions were adhered to.
The groom, a software engineer in Gurugram, had come home days before his marriage scheduled for June 15.
As per available information, he had informed his father about his condition and requested him not to go ahead with the wedding.
However, his father did not relent and the wedding was organised at Paliganj. The baraat (procession) went to Piplawan at Naubatpur on June 15 and returned to Paliganj on June 16. “The groom passed away on June 17 but his parents cremated the body in a hurry and did not get Covid-19 test done,” said a district administration official.
Block development officer (BDO) Chiranjeev Pandey dismissed reports that about 200 people had participated in the cremation of the body. “The body was cremated in a hurry in Patna and so very few people participated in it,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Block development officer (BDO) Chiranjeev Pandey dismissed reports that about 200 people had participated in the cremation of the body. “The body was cremated in a hurry in Patna and so very few people participated in it,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Paliganj sub-divisional officer (SDO) Surender Kumar said the probe team would talk to family members of the groom after their isolation ends.
Meanwhile, a close relative of the girl, pleading anonymity, said all close family members had tested negative.
He said the girl was in a state of shock after her return to Piplawan on June 17. “Everything was normal during the wedding. The couple was sent off to Paliganj on June 16. However, the 28-year-old groom developed stomach ache on June 16 and was admitted to a hospital, where he passed away on June 17,” he said.
The BDO said eight containment zones had been marked in Paliganj and people who had tested positive were returning to their homes after completion of isolation. “All precautions are being taken. The vegetable market in Paliganj, which draws maximum crowd, is being opened in two shifts. Today, fire brigade vehicles were used to sanitise the containment zones,” he said.