Duo in Narela quarantine facility booked for defecating in open

The Delhi Police have registered a first information report (FIR) against two persons for allegedly defecating in a corridor of a quarantine centre in outer Delhi’s

The Delhi Police have registered a first information report (FIR) against two persons for allegedly defecating in a corridor of a quarantine centre in outer Delhi’s Narela, where those who had attended Tablighi Jamaat congregations have been placed. They were evacuated from a Markaz in Delhi’s Nizamuddin on March 31.

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The police said the two men had defecated on the second-floor corridor, outside the flat where they are staying.

A case was registered on April 4 on the complaint of the in-charge of three housing blocks of Delhi Development Authority (DDA) that have been re-purposed as quarantine centres. The DDA flats, yet to be occupied since construction, were the first to be re-purposed as quarantine centres.

“...the persons residing in 212 second floor...are the suspect of the above said act and not following the instruction of health department/government and helping the spread of Novel Corona Virus and put the life of people at risk and jeopardize the entire containment measure,” the FIR read.

The official said that on April 4, sanitation workers reported the incident in B-block to the housekeeping supervisor. “The housekeeping staff complained that people in quarantine often created a commotion, misbehaved with them and were not following the social distancing norms. After the open defecation incident, we filed a complaint with the police,” a government official said.

Joint commissioner of police (northern range), Manish Kumar Aggarwal, said, “We registered a case under sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 269 (Negligent act likely to spread infection of disease danger­ous to life) of the Indian Penal Code after the matter was brought to our notice.”

According to a senior Delhi government official, this is not the first time such an incident has been reported. “We asked the police to register a FIR, as these people had defecated in the corridors earlier as well. We had warned them, but some of them continue to misbehave and not follow quarantine rules,” said the official.

Nearly 1,000 people of more than 2,350 people, including foreigners, who were evacuated from the Markaz, where they had assembled for religious congregations last month, are at the Delhi government-run quarantine facilities and hospitals in the city.

Earlier, The Uttar Pradesh government invoked the stringent National Security Act against six quarantined persons, after staffers of a hospital in Ghaziabad had alleged harassment by those placed in quarantine after attending the congregations. Health officials had accused them of making lewd remarks and roaming naked on the hospital premises. They were later shifted to an isolation ward in a private educational institution.

Four days ago, two inmates at a quarantine facility, set up in an institute, in Narela had managed to escape, prompting the police to register a case and launch a search operation. They were found at their houses in east Delhi’s Patparganj village and brought back to the quarantine centre. “We had immediately informed the police and the two men were brought back to the facility,” said an official, on the condition of anonymity.