As many as 14 people were arrested in Kalaburagi district in Karnataka for offering prayer at a village mosque in violation of the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown norms, police said on Thursday. Police said they were looking for two more people who participated in the prayers.
A total of 16 people gathered in T Bommanahalli village mosque within Sedam Police Station limits for the prayer and two of them managed to flee when police rushed there following information, the official added.
Religious gatherings have been prohibited under the lockdown in force to check the spread of coronavirus.
As of Thursday evening the district has had 52 patients test positive for COVID-19, the fourth highest in the state. In terms of fatalities, it's the worst affected with five deaths in relation to the pandemic.
“They had come to the mosque and had gathered for prayers. This is in clear violation of the lockdown rules. We had given passes to four of them. Upon finding that there was a violation of rules, Sedam police station cops went to the mosque and arrested them. We registered a case and produced them before the magistrate. They secured bail after they were produced before the magistrate,” Iada Martin Marbaniang, Superintendent of Police (SP), Kalaburagi told TNM.
“We are conducting meetings with all community leaders and all of them have agreed to abide by the rules as ordered by the government. Till now, all of them have cooperated. In this case, the people gathered in numbers more than the permitted limit, so we had to intervene,” he added.
The accused have been booked under sections 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 270 (Malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The SP confirmed that this area was not near any containment zones in the district.
This incident comes after scores of people were seen attending a chariot festival in mid-April in clear defiance of the lockdown. In that incident, police had arrested five of the festival organisers. At that time the district had already 20 cases. The district was also the first in the country to report a COVID-19 related fatality.