Mumbai: COVID patient faces FIR for breaking quarantine rules

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Blatant violation of quarantine rules by a 52-year-old Chembur resident has led the police to register an FIR against him. The man, who had tested positive for COVID-19 on February 19, was roaming about freely following which a BMC health worker filed a complaint.

The case has been registered under IPC sections 188 (disobedience) and 269 (unlawfully or negligently does any act which is, and which he knows is likely to spread infection and endanger others), which attracts a six-month jail term. As per the written complaint by Vandana Awale, BMC health worker with M East ward, a 20-year-old woman from Chembur had tested positive on February 17. As she was asymptomatic and did not have any comorbidities, she and her family were advised to isolate themselves at home. The family, however, refused to get their hands stamped. Two days later the woman's parents tested positive.

On February 27, the secretary of the society where the family resided, Sudesh Shetty informed the BMC that the woman's father had gone to Chembur Gymkhana Club despite being under quarantine. When Awale and her colleague Nisha Rathod visited the patient's home, the man's wife refused to respond to questions about his whereabouts. He, too, did not respond to calls, Awale mentioned in her complaint. While there are cases against general people who have flouted rules, this is the first case where a COVID positive patient has been named in an FIR.