Man out to buy milk allegedly beaten to death by police for breaking coronavirus curfew in India
India went under a complete lockdown on Wednesday. No offices or restaurants or malls will remain open in any part of the 1.37-billion strong nation for the next three weeks barring essential services and commodities.
According to government guidelines, people must remain at home unless it's absolutely necessary to step out.
Law enforcement authorities have been actively enforcing the nationwide curfew and are ready to disperse any crowds that gather unnecessarily or don't adhere to social distancing or isolating protocols, according to the Free Press Journal.
However, things took an ugly turn on Wednesday after a man in the state of West Bengal was allegedly beaten to death by officers for breaking curfew. The victim, identified as 32-year-old Lal Swami, had reportedly stepped out to buy milk, according to his family.
According to a report by Indian news network ABP, the incident took place in the town of Sankrail. Family members have alleged that he was brutally assaulted during a police lathi charge before being rushed to SC Mullick Hospital, where he was declared dead upon arrival.
However, police have denied the charge.
Raju Mukherjee, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) of Howrah Police, told the outlet the man had been suffering from pre-existing cardiac ailments.
The police have since maintained that Swami died due to a cardiac arrest and not during a lathi charge. However, the official cause of death is yet to be established pending a forensic investigation.
Nonetheless, several outraged observers took to social media to slam the allegedly brutal police response. "This brutality is killing Indians more than the virus," one tweeted.
"Where are we going as a nation?" another wrote.
"Who will be held accountable? Why would you hit people to the extent that they die? Why take your frustration on the common man? The policemen who killed him need to arrested and prosecuted. We won't tolerate police brutality. You have taken an oath to serve us not to kill us," a third added.
Indian citizens are finding it increasingly difficult to procure essential goods in some parts of the country amid the coronavirus crisis and resultant lockdown.
Furthermore, there have been reports of delivery personnel from "essential services" being ruthlessly beaten up by law enforcement across the country. A survey conducted by local media outlet LocalCircles shows that the number of consumers unable to get timely deliveries from e-commerce grocery apps such as Bigbasket, Grofers, and Amazon has spiked from 35 percent to 79 percent in the last two days. Meanwhile, consumers unable to procure essential items at retail stores increased from 17 percent to 32 percent. According to the report, the survey was conducted among 16,000 people across 164 districts in the country.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation about the novel coronavirus Tuesday night, announcing the entire country would be put under strict lockdown for three weeks. He repeatedly urged citizens to not step out of their homes in a bid to contain the spread of the deadly contagion.