A few men have been arrested in the incident, said police
Morena:
Dozens of men on motorbikes, their faces and head covered with a cloth, were seen firing guns while riding through Madhya Pradesh’s Morena on Sunday, in shocking scenes of violence in the middle of the coronavirus lockdown in the state.
A woman suffered a head injury in the incident that took place at Bankhandi Road area under Kotwali police station, said the police. A case has been registered against unknown assailants on her complaint, they added.
“We have arrested few of them and we are taking action against those who are involved. Nobody is above the law, we will take appropriate action against whosoever is responsible,” said Additional SP Dr Raisingh Narwaria.
The police said the incident was an act of retaliation to a similar incident a day ago by another community over an objectionable social media post.
#CoronaCurfew not in Morena! dozens masked riding mobikes openly firing targeting the other caste over a social media post! @GargiRawat@ndtv@ndtvindiapic.twitter.com/B7GG8tXAa1
— Anurag Dwary (@Anurag_Dwary) May 8, 2021
The injured woman’s husband Pradip Sharma said, “My wife was on way to see a doctor, when she saw these masked men coming from opposite directions on motorcycles. Before she could look for safe shelter, she suffered a wound near the head as the masked men kept on firing indiscriminately and damaging small and big vehicles in the locality.”
The violence comes amid a “strict Janata Curfew” till May 15, as announced by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan earlier this week. The Chief Minister also spotlighted the high positivity rate in the state that led him to make the decision.
“To break the chain of transmission of the coronavirus in the state, we have to completely shut everything till May 15 — strict ‘Janata Curfew’,” said Mr Chouhan.
“We can’t shut things for too long, but with more than 18% positivity, we can’t remain open,” he added.
The country is battered by a deadly second wave of coronavirus which has overwhelmed the hospitals. Most states have taken to lockdowns, or night curfews to cut the transmission chain.