Awareness is key to giving Corona criminals the boot

Workers wait for vaccination at Ambedkar Hospital on Monday. Pic/Satej Shinde

This paper carried a report about a 13-year-old boy kidnapped by so-called BMC officers for not wearing a mask. It turned out that these ‘officers' were criminals and had demanded a ransom from the boy's father, after bundling off his son to an unknown location in an autorickshaw.

The report stated how the duo swooped in on the boy, who was playing cricket, telling him they were BMC officers and that he was caught for not wearing a mask. One can only imagine the terror as the boy was pushed into an rickshaw, repeatedly being told that he was caught for not wearing a mask.

The happy ending to this frightening ordeal though is that the boy's father informed the police that he got calls from a certain number asking for Rs 10 lakh as ransom. These kidnappers were caught and the boy was released unharmed.

Do be aware and inform others, too, including young children, that there is a procedure in place about wearing masks. These are not officials and certainly nobody can take you to any place for not wearing a mask. And, if these are legitimate people, they need to show identification.

There are criminals who are taking advantage of the current climate. Where fear and uncertainty prevail, these are ripe conditions for crime to sprout and fester. We have seen it in cyberspace, we have read warnings about vaccine official frauds and we also have this very serious crime.

It will be good to see signage across prominent parts of the city, about procedures and penalties when it comes to not wearing masks.

While genuine offenders need to be brought to book, the criminals capitalising on COVID-19 in so many ways, have to be dealt with extremely swiftly and in tough, non-negotiable ways. Stamp out every facet of Corona-induced crime.