Forty-six-year-old Moorthy, a daily wage worker who lives in the Annai Sathya Nagar at Ayanavaram in Chennai has watched videos of Dr Pradeep and Dr Bhagyaraj pouring their hearts out, expressing their sorrow over the denial of burial place to their friend, Dr Simon Hercules.
Dr Simon Hercules, the Managing Director of New Hope Hospital in Chennai had passed away on Sunday, after contracting COVID-19 in early April. When his body was brought to the Velangadu cemetery in Ayanavaram, his family and friends had to face violence from the residents.
“I know that people in my neighborhood attacked them. I saw the videos by the doctors and Dr Simon’s wife. We feel guilty. We should not have done that, but people here were driven by fear,” Moorthy says.
What happened on Sunday
It was close to 11 pm on Sunday and tensions were running high in the Annai Sathya Nagar. Residents around the Velangadu cemetery had seen a JCB plough into the soft mud, readying space for a body to be buried at what was deemed very odd hours. Suspicious, several of them enquired with workers at the cemetery about the sudden activity near the grave.
"People closest to the graveyard could see what was happening from their windows," says 36-year-old Prabhakar, a resident of the colony. "The workers then told us that a coronavirus patient was going to be buried here and the news spread like wildfire across the area," he adds.
What followed next was a scene of horrific violence against two ambulance drivers, two corporation engineers, friends and family of Dr Simon Hercules. All hopes of a dignified burial were shattered as residents came with sticks and stones to drive them away. In the resulting scuffle, the ambulance drivers were severely injured, corporation officials were beaten up, while Dr Simon's family was forced to flee without paying their final respects.
The body was later buried by hand by a colleague of the deceased doctor and two others who ventured back with police protection after midnight. On Monday, appalled by the violence, the city corporation sent out warnings to residents near graveyards. The police also arrested 22 persons allegedly involved in the scuffle.
But what led these men and women who have witnessed hundreds of burials on this ground, to suddenly lash out in this manner?
The lady in the green nightie
In videos that have emerged from the scene of violence, one figure from the area stands out. Shaking with anger and dressed in a green nightie and a dark green dupatta draped on her neck, a middle-aged woman is seen screaming and inciting residents to attack the group which had arrived for the burial.
"Don't bury him here," she is heard yelling. "If you bury him, bury us too...burn us," she can be heard saying in one video.
In another, she is seen walking away from the ambulance, screaming, "Take the body away from here, take it away. You can't bury the body here. Who asked you to do it here?"
"Nirmala is a homemaker and she lives right next to the cemetery," says Prabhakar. "She was amongst the first people to rush to stop the burial. But this was not due to malice, it was because of fear," he says.
Several residents of Annai Sathya Nagar who TNM spoke to say that they were afraid that the burial of a COVID-19 patient would lead to spreading of the virus in the area.
"On television, ministers and the health department kept saying that the virus spreads very fast and that even touching someone with COVID-19 can lead to infection. But nobody told us that if you bury the dead person in a body bag it won't lead to spread of the virus," explains 46-year-old Moorthy, another resident. "We really didn't know that it was safe. If we had known, nobody in the area would have attacked them," he claimed.
Residents point out that people involved in the attack need to be educated, not punished for their mistakes.
'Educate, don't punish'
Moorthy emphasises that most residents in the neighbourhood are illiterate.
"What little we know is from watching videos on television and the internet. Nobody came to our area and told us how to behave when COVID-19 corpses are brought here. All we know is that the virus is dangerous and we can't afford to fall sick," he says. "We are already struggling financially in the lockdown and paranoia has set in," he adds.
In fact, a similar incident in the city a week ago had further bolstered the crowd to resort to violence. On April 13, in a similar display of fear and ignorance, residents near a crematorium at Ambattur in Chennai gathered to stop the final rites of a 62-year-old doctor from Nellore who had died of COVID-19 at the Apollo Hospital in Vanagaram. Alerted by the hazmat suits worn by the hospital staff, residents objected to the cremation and forced the hospital to take the body back.
Speaking to TNM, advocate Parivendhan, who is representing five of the arrested persons, says that the problem at hand is because of the government's failure to educate people.
"A government's job is to allay people's fears, not cement them," he says.
"First, they don't explain that burying the body in a suit at a certain depth is safe, the second issue is that the burial itself is done in a secretive manner and in the dead of the night. Why should that be? By choosing such a time you are making it seem like something wrong is happening," he explains.
Moreover, the lack of sensitisation camps for people living around the graveyards, he says, is the primary cause for panic.
"For centuries it is poor people and those from oppressed castes, who live near graveyards and cemeteries. To go to any graveyard, you actually have to step through slums. When a body with any infection is buried or burnt there, it is these people who have had to face the brunt. Nobody has ever addressed their issues and they feel pushed to a corner, forced to take matters into their own hands," he explains.
And while corporation staff have now addressed people at Annai Sathya Nagar, the advocate states that ministers and politicians who visit hospitals and speak to the media, largely ignore residents of slums who need to be educated.
Residents also regret their actions and say that those who actually indulged in violence were very few. While close to 10 people attacked the ambulance and the rest of the group, the others were allegedly mere bystanders.
"We did not know that the person being buried was even a doctor and that he had died after treating a coronavirus patient," says Moorthy. "Poor people like us depend on kind hearted and charitable doctors when we can't afford treatment. We cannot justify what happened in any way. It was inhuman. But all we are saying is that they did it out of fear and ignorance. Please don't punish so many people for what a few emotional residents did," he pleads.
Amongst those who have been arrested are people in their twenties.
"These are young boys who will have a good future," says Prabhakar. "If they are booked and sent to jail, they will never get jobs. This will forever be on their records," he adds.
A case under IPC Sections 307 (attempted to murder), 332 (preventing to discharge the duty of a government servant), apart from 147 (riot), 148, 324 (attacking with sticks), 294 (B) (abusing), 506 (II) (criminal intimidation), 269 (Negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) IPC and Section 3 of the TNPPDL Act was registered against those arrested. And according to reports, 69 other persons are on the police radar and were booked on Tuesday.
When TNM spoke to the Chennai Corporation Deputy Commissioner for Health, Madhusudhan Reddy, he agreed that educating the public was important."We will be sending corporation staff to sensitise people near graveyards and to inform the public that there is no harm in burials or cremation. From now all burials and cremation will be done with police protection," he says. "Despite that, if anyone creates trouble, they will definitely be arrested," he adds.