A group of people in Haryana’s Chandpur village in Ambala opposed and attempted to disrupt the funeral of an elderly woman as they suspected that she had died of COVID-19 and feared that her cremation would spread the virus, the police said.
The police said mild force was used to disperse the crowd after they pelted stones at the police personnel and members of the health department and the municipal committee at the cremation site in the village on Monday evening.
“A team of the health department, the police and the municipal committee had come to the village to cremate the body of the woman, who died at a civil hospital in Ambala Cantonment, but around 100-150 people, breaking the lockdown, came there and tried to oppose the cremation,” a police officer present at the site told reporters.
Stones pelted
He said when the police tired to ally their fears over spread of COVID-19 infection, many started pelting stones after which the police had to use mild force to disperse them. “The deceased was later cremated in the presence of the police,” he said.
The deceased had been admitted to the civil hospital after complaining of breathing problems and her samples had been sent for tests, the report of which is still awaited.
Ambala Superintendent of Police Abhishek Jorwal said that the police had detained nearly a dozen villagers and investigation in the matter was under way.
