Gujarat Cops Arrest Man For ‘Roaming Alone Without Maintaining Social Distancing’

In a rather inane occurrence of sorts, a young man—identified as Mahadevji Chauhan— in Gujarat was caught by cops for allegedly ‘roaming alone and flouting social distancing norms'. Recent reports further suggest that the resident of Iqbalgadh village faces charges for violating the police notification and negligence likely to spread coronavirus.

As reported by Times Now News, the Amirgadh police in Banaskantha (one of Gujurat’s prominent districts) registered an offense against Chauhan, for not following social distancing while strolling down a deserted area. The incident is said to have occurred on Wednesday, when Chauhan seemed to be merely sauntering about in an area that fell within the limits of Amirgadh police. The peaceful walk was short-lived. Only to be caught out of the blue for defying rules that barely made any sense!

As per the police complaint against him, the statement read: “The accused was roaming alone without maintaining social distancing.” Netizens got talking as soon as the news made its way into the world wide web. A deeper probe into the matter is underway.

Gujarat has witnessed an uptick in strange cases that point to flouting COVID-19 health guidelines in scenarios where such an arrangement is almost impossible. In another instance, in Ahmedabad city, a volley of hairdressers were booked for overlooking the social distancing guidelines while tending to clients.

As per the report, an official complaint was registered with Ghatlodia police in Ahmedabad that categorically specified how Raju Valand (30), a resident of Memnagar failed to adhere to the strict social distancing norms after resuming operations. The accusations fall flat on the grounds that hoping for stylists to maintain social distancing while styling a customer’s hair is certainly far-fetched.

Credible reports by the Times of India also suggest that Indian cops have reprimanded several shop owners for not keeping hand sanitizers around for customers. The following incidents also highlight the grave ignorance meted out by a volley of authorities in terms of understanding the concept of social distancing and other precautionary regulations, despite the pandemic having ravaged across the globe for over a year now.

India has so far logged in over 2.99 crore (29.9 million) cases, with shortages in vaccines being one of the challenges that the country currently faces as it battles the global health crisis.