'The stray cattle menace has resurfaced in Uttar Pradesh, triggered by the non-availability of food as hotels, restaurants are closed amid the ongoing nationwide lockdown to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. The problem is posing a serious threat, especially during the harvesting season, however, the Yogi Adityanath-led government in the state has shut its eyes to the cries of hungry cattle especially cows. Meanwhile, in Kerala and Maharashtra, the state governments are addressing similar concerns.
'A 35-year-old woman who fell sick while standing in a queue at a shop in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district to collect free ration being distributed during lockdown died at a hospital, officials said on Saturday. The incident took place on Friday. Police have sent the body for post-mortem, they said. “We got information about the death of a woman while standing in a queue outside a shop to get rice. The district supply officer has been sent to the spot. The cause of death is not yet clear, and it is being said that she died of heart attack.
'Uttar Pradesh’s Valentis Cancer Hospital in Meerut recently issued an advertisement in a local daily, stating that it would no longer be accepting Muslim patients from Muslim-dominated localities in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. After the advertisement was brought to the notice of UP Police, a probe was initiated into the matter. The hospital is a medical facility to treat cancer patients, and its decision to exclude Muslims from treatment would be detrimental to the minorities living in western UP.
'On rare occasions, the Indian government—which prides itself on visions of universal digital literacy, online services, and biometrical identity schemes—still conducts certain official communications by radiogram. An operator sitting at a radio transmitter taps out a message, and then a receiver spits out the transmission in another part of the country, generating an instant legal document.
'There is a lockdown and then there is a super-lockdown. Right now, fifteen districts in Uttar Pradesh have been “completely sealed” or are in super-lockdown mode. The sharp spike in COVID-19 cases in the state has made the state government declare that nobody can step out until April 15, not to go to the bank and not for food. Food will be delivered home. But where is home? Take, for instance, the district of Shamli in Western UP, a poky industrial belt, now completely sealed. This video was shot three days ago by two social activists – Himanshu and Deepak...
'Zee News has become the latest organisation to be caught spreading fake news about Tablighi Jamaat. The pro-BJP organisation was forced to delete its tweet containing the fake news after a warning from the Firozabad Police in Uttar Pradesh. In its tweet, now deleted, Zee Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand had said, “Four Tablighi Jamaati test corona positive in Firozabad, stones pelted at the medical team that came to pick them up.” The Firozabad Police reacted swiftly to expose the lies spread by Zee News...'
'A 35-year-old man who had self-isolated after having cough and cold, hanged himself in Jamalpur village here, with the police suspecting that he acted out of the fear of having contracted the novel coronavirus. Rajendra took the extreme step at his in-laws' house on Saturday...'
'A 25-year-old village resident reported sick at the Basti district hospital on March 28. For more than two days, he was shunted from ward to ward and hospital to hospital before he finally died in Gorakhpur, the largest city in eastern Uttar Pradesh, 70 km from Basti. He would be the first confirmed coronavirus casualty in the state. The 48 hours leading up to his death paint a grim picture of provincial India’s health infrastructure and bare the lack of preparedness or even training to handle the pandemic...'
'On Wednesday, April 1, the Uttar Pradesh Police in Faizabad registered an FIR against The Wire on the complaint of an individual under Sections 188 and 505 (2) of the Indian Penal Code. Section 188 refers to disobedience of an order issued by a public servant and 505 (2) to “statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes”. The FIR cites a passage without mentioning the date or headline of the article it is drawn from... The founding editors of The Wire have issued a statement in response to the FIR, which is appended below...'
'Close your eyes and those of your children, order personnel in protective gear, as a group of men, women and children squat on the road. Next comes a spray of bleach and many cry out as their eyes sting. The shocking video of migrants being "disinfected" has emerged from Uttar Pradesh on a day the Supreme Court took up a petition seeking relief for the thousands walking to their home states amid the 21-day lockdown. The video was filmed in Bareilly district - about 270 km from Lucknow.
