Father always out roaming during lockdown, son calls police

Virender Singh, a 59-year-old man living in the national capital, does not like to sit at home and his exasperated son found a way to ensure that he does not step out at all during the COVID-19 lockdown – calls the police.

And, the father now may end up spending some time in jail as police have now registered a case on his son Abhishek's complaint.

Abhishek (30), who works as an assistant manager in an automobile shop, was worried that his father always steps out of their house in the morning and roam around the streets. Repeated appeals fell on deaf ears and on April 1, he made a call to police.

Two policemen from the Vasant Kunj police station in south-west Delhi went to Abhishek's residence in Rajokri immediately and they met both the son and father on the road outside their house.

In the presence of policemen, Abhishek once again asked his father to go inside the house but Virender was in no mood to oblige. The policemen to requested him to go inside and told him about the risks of roaming around as he may get infected putting his family also at risk. They told him he was violating the directions regarding the lockdown imposed on March 25 to ensure that COVID-19 does not spread.

But the father was adamant and then police decided to record Abhishek's statement. "My father is not following the lockdown norms and that he goes out of their rented accommodation regularly. Even when he is not asked to go, he does not listen. Take legal action against him," Abhishek's statement was noted in the FIR.

Police have now invoked Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code that prescribed a jail term of up to six months or a fine of up to Rs 1,000 or both for disobeying an order promulgated by a public servant.

While imposing the lockdown, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued directions to states to take action against those people who violate the containment measures under Sections 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act 2005 and Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.

Separately, Delhi Police has so far registered 33 cases against those found violating home quarantine rules, of which 21 came from Dwarka. Eight cases were registered in South Delhi followed by two cases in North Delhi and one each in North-West Delhi and Central Delhi.