Pune: Cops turn counsellor as woman faces rejection from kin after COVID-19 recovery

Photo for representational purpose

The family members of a 70-year-old woman in Pune refused to let her return home after she recovered from coronavirus infection in a local hospital, a police official said.

However, police personnel played the role of a counsellor and advised the elderly woman's family members, following which they accepted their mistake and she returned home, he said.

The woman was admitted to a hospital in Sinhagad Road area on March 13 after testing positive for the infection.

"She was supposed to be discharged on Tuesday after her COVID-19 recovery. We called up the woman's son and asked him to take his mother home," Dr Shubhangi Shah from that hospital said.

"However, to our surprise, her family members refused to take her home. When we asked her son where we should send his mother, he asked us to leave her on the streets. We were baffled by his response," she said.

Dr Shah said that she then called the Sinhagad police station and sought their help.

"With the help of the police, the woman was taken to her home. However, when they reached there, the house was locked. Her family members were contacted again, who told them that they would come by 8 pm," she added.

As it was difficult for the police to keep the woman alone outside her home, they took her back to the hospital, where she stayed overnight.

"On Wednesday, the police counselled her family members and the woman was reunited with her family," she said.

Devidas Gheware, senior police officer from Sinhagad Road police station said that the daughter-in-law of the woman told them that they could not take her home as her father had passed away on Tuesday and she was not in a state to reply.

"The family members said they were tense and could not understand how to respond. But they ultimately accepted their mistake and the elderly woman returned home," he said.

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