'In the past week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in every speech he made, stressed on the importance of staying home right now. Given the urgency to curtail the spread of coronavirus in the country, PM Modi said, “Ghar main rahiye, ghar main rahiye, ghar main rahiye (stay home, stay home, stay home).” A similar message was repeatedly broadcasted by Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in his daily video bulletins. “Ghari raaha, surakshit raaha (stay home, stay safe)” was how he ended each of his speeches.
'AHEAD of Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing a 21-day countrywide lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19, long queues had formed on highways of trucks carrying essential goods and commodities, including medicines, milk, fruits and vegetables, by Tuesday, hours into several states sealing borders. While goods trains fall in the exempted category, freight services too were hit as states did not mention ‘Railways’ as essential service in their respective orders...
'When H. received an urgent message from the hospital on Monday night asking her to come in to work, she knew it would be bad. The world was in the grips of a pandemic, and her home state in south India had discovered 22 positive cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. For weeks, the hospital where she worked had been all hands on deck — even doctors not treating coronavirus patients were required to take throat and nose swabs, check symptoms, and decide who needed medical assistance.
'Residents say that the police were also beating them up after being seen at grocery stores... Several residents of Bengaluru city have complained that police personnel, deployed to enforce the lockdown, have been shutting down grocery stores and drinking water units. This, despite the Karnataka Chief Secretary Vijay Bhaskar issuing an order that clearly said that grocery stores are essential services that will be allowed to operate...'
'Despite journalists, doctors, nurses and health workers being exempted from the state lock down as they are enlisted under ‘essential services' by the Telangana government, several reports have emerged of them being attacked by the police on the first day of curfew. Curfew has been imposed in the state from 7 pm to 6 am as part of the lockdown. On Monday, Bureau Chief of The Hindu, Ravi Reddy was physically assaulted and abused by the Begumpet police, for being on the road, during the curfew hours. Reddy was returning home after work.
'Police in Hyderabad and Delhi assaulted at least four journalists yesterday, as India began a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus, according to news reports and journalists who spoke to CPJ. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a statement yesterday, reiterating that journalists are exempt from the lockdown and are free to do their work without any restriction.
'“It was as if someone threw boiling hot water on me,” said the 23-year-old. He removed his shirt to reveal flesh-coloured scabs that stretched from the right side of his upper back to his right ear and down his right arm. He could not stop himself from scratching the wounds, which itched madly as they healed.
'Exactly twenty years ago, on 20 March 2000, thirty-five Sikh men were massacred by armed assailants in Chitti Singhpora village in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district. Nearly everyone in the village recalls the evening in the exact same way: the assailants turned up at around 7:30 pm, lined the men up in front of the two central gurdwaras on the pretext of a routine ‘crackdown’, shot them dead, and disappeared into the night. Hidden amongst lush apple orchards, the village is hard to find, except for a yellow banner marking its entrance.
'In february this year, Amulya Leona, a student activist, was taken into custody by Bengaluru police after she raised 'Hindustan Zindabad' and 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans at an anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rally organised by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi in the city. She had been charged with the offence of sedition and for promoting enmity at the Upparpete police station. On February 20, Public TV telecast a TV show where statements were made allegedly calling for violence against her.
'Indians seeking clarity from the government on the causes, responses, and aftermath of the riots in north-east Delhi, in which 53 people died and over 500 injured, would have been confused by Home Minister Amit Shah’s explanations in the Lok Sabha on March 11. Mr Shah’s 50-minute speech can be best described as a model of mendacity. It apportioned the blame on everyone but his ministry and the Delhi police, which report to him. According to his version, the riots were pre-planned, financed, and mobilised externally (by implication the Muslim community) and the police were ...'
