Cop Punishes Lockdown Violators, Asks Them To Write ‘Ram Ram’ For 30 Minutes

In an attempt to school those who flout stringent lockdown rules in India’s Madhya Pradesh, a sub-inspector Santosh Singh etched out a rather unique practice: Asking a person to write “Ram Ram” for 30 minutes, or fill up four pages with the Lord Ram's name!

The notebooks, purchased by the cop himself, are emblazoned with the Lord’s image and name. Singh is currently posted at Kolgawan police station in MP’s Satna district.

While the nature of the punishment has raised many eyebrows, the cop clarified that he never imposed it upon anyone. “And before doing so, I also asked the name of the person, so as to ensure it doesn’t hurt anyone’s religious sentiments. It is strictly based on the will and no one is being forced. It is just a way to make people realize that they should be indoors it’s for everyone’s good to remain indoors,” said Singh, as cited in The Indian Express.

He averred that an identity check was always carried out before asking a violator to get to it. He further maintained that the exercise was never forced upon anyone, as the idea was never to hurt anyone’s religious sentiments, reported Times Now News.

What’s more, the Sub-inspector believes things never spiraled out of control even when the written punishment was given, as scores of people are reportedly happy to write the Lord’s name when subjected to temporary confinement.

The punishment meted out to people who breach Covid-19 restrictions is usually a heavy fine, along with confinement of about one hour.

The MP government had recently imposed a ‘Corona Curfew’—akin to a lockdown to curb the spread of contagion of the deadly Covid-19 virus. The ‘stay home’ arrangement had gotten the cases to plateau, but things are far from okay in several parts of the Covid-stricken country.

This isn’t the first instance of the MP police doling out innovative punishments to rule-breakers of the coronavirus lockdown. Not too long ago, the state's law enforcement officials amassed widespread flak for making four women do push-ups out on the road for violating the lockdown protocol.

India continues to see protracted lockdowns and extensions in the curfews across states, due to the rise in the cases. Out of 2.52 crore (252 million) cases logged in, there has been a recovery rate of 2.16 crore (216 million) and 2.79 lakh (27900 million).