26 booked in Bihar for protesting against cremation in violation of Covid-19 protocols

An FIR has been registered against 26 people in Bihar for violating social distancing norms while protesting against cremation of Covid-19 victims at Bansghat crematorium here. The people who took out a procession on Sunday had also not taken permission from the authorities concerned, a release from the district administration said.

The group failed to produce valid documents when asked to do so by Magistrate Chandan Prasad, who is deputed at Bansghat.

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Crowding is illegal during lockdown which in force in the state from July 16-31.

The FIR has been lodged against the persons, including 20 unnamed ones, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 at Buddha Colony police station of the capital city.

The case has been lodged on the basis of a letter written by the magistrate deputed at Bansghat, Station House Officer (SHO) of the police station Ravi Shankar Singh said. The people belonging to north Mandiri area of the state capital feared risk to their health as the bodies of Covid-19 patients are being cremated on wooden logs at Bansghat, the SHO said.

They were demanding that the Covid-19 patients be cremated at a fair distance away from the place where it is usually done at Bansghat, the main cremation ground in the state capital, he said.

On an average, five to 10 bodies of Covid-19 victims are cremated at Bansghat on a daily basis, police said.