No data on police excesses during lockdown: MHA

40 lakh under surveillance for COVID-19, it informs RS

Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy. File

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha that data on police excesses during COVID-19 lockdown was not maintained centrally. As on September 10, a total of about 40 lakh persons have been kept under surveillance in the wake of the pandemic, it stated.

More than 30 vaccine candidates have been supported and they were in different stages of development, three candidates were in advanced stage of Phase I/II/III trials and more than four candidates in advanced pre-clinical development stage, Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy said in a written reply.

Mr. Reddy said that police and public order were State subjects as per 7th schedule of the Constitution. “Hence, the actions are taken by the respective State Governments. Data pertaining to complaints and cases registered/First Information Report (FIR) regarding harassment/injury/death of individuals in enforcing the COVID-19 lockdown across the country is not maintained centrally,” he stated.

Kharge’s query

Mr. Reddy was responding to a question by the Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge on instances of excessive police measures leading to harassment/injury/death of individuals in enforcing the lockdown across the country.

The lockdown was first imposed on March 24 and was extended subsequently till June. From June onward phase-wise opening of various sectors were allowed.

Responding to a separate question, MoS Home Nityanand Rai said there were 1,697 laboratories conducting COVID-19 testing and about 1 million samples were being tested a day. As on September 10, a total of 5.4 crore samples have been tested.

“Central Government has been keeping a close watch on the situation since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in China. Soon after the outbreak of novel coronavirus on 7th January, 2020, several measures like progressive tightening of international travel, issuing advisories for members of the public, setting up quarantine facilities etc. were taken by the Central Government to contain the spread of COVID-19,” he said.