Bihar youth commits suicide at Bodh Gaya quarantine centre
The man had expressed his desire to be allowed to leave the quarantine centre but was denied permission by the authorities.
A 40-year old resident of Bihar’s Gopalganj, who was put up at a quarantine centre at Bodh Gaya after returning from Saudi Arabia on June 3, allegedly committed suicide early Friday.
The youth, identified as Vickky Kumar, a native of Chhatia village in Gopalganj, jumped to death from Nigma Monasteries quarantine centre under the jurisdiction of Bodh Gaya police station in Bihar.
The victim was working in Jeddah and reached Bodh Gaya on June 3. The incident took place in the early hours of Friday on the premises of Nigma Monasteries Block-4 which has been converted into a quarantine centre for people arriving from abroad.
Bodh Gaya police have registered a case of unnatural death and further probe is underway. Victim’s body has been shifted to the Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital (ANMCH) for post-mortem, the reports of which are awaited.
Bodh Gaya police station SHO Mohan Prasad Singh said that the youth didn’t have any coronavirus symptoms but was quarantined for 14 days as per standard protocol. The exact reason that prompted him to take the extreme step was yet to be ascertained, he added.
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Gaya SSP Rajiv Mishra said that the youth was visited by his brother and in-laws on Thursday and he was pressurizing them to get “released” from the quarantine centre, but officials ignored their plea on the ground that all returnees from abroad have to undergo 14 days in quarantine.
The upset youth took the extreme step at around 2 am (Friday).
Magadh divisional commissioner Asangba Chuba Ao ordered a probe into the incident. He added that Gaya airport handles international flights in the state. So, it was the Bihar government’s decision to make it the landing point for special flights coming from abroad.
The Union home secretary had asked the Bihar government to arrange facilities for mandatory institutional quarantine of stranded Indian nationals being brought back.
This is not the first such incident in the state, a 30-year-old migrant worker named Rajesh Kumar had allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at a quarantine centre in Vaishali district on May 21 and another young migrant worker had set himself ablaze at a quarantine centre in Muzaffarpur district. He is now reportedly battling for his life.