A day after he tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19, Bengaluru police booked Padarayanapura ward corporator Imran Pasha on Saturday for violating physical distancing norms and other related offences.
The complaint was registered by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials after he allegedly resisted cooperating with health officials to go into a treatment facility.
“He was informed that he should be admitted on Friday night itself. But he neglected this and kept delaying his admission. When we went to his house on Saturday he made us wait, later while he was getting on the ambulance, his supporters gathered and shouted slogans. So he was knowingly not cooperating and increasing the chance of spread of infection,” Dr Manoranjan Hegde, BBMP West Health Officer stated to TNM.
Imran Pasha, JD(S) corporator of Padarayanapura in Bengaluru, seen here greeting a crowd after testing positive for COVID-19. An FIR has been registered against him.
— Prajwal (@prajwalmanipal) May 31, 2020
Video via @nolanentreeo pic.twitter.com/9nSzQj2rH7
Visuals of Pasha waving and greeting his supporters on board an ambulance went viral on social media platforms. The video was shot as he was being taken to Victoria Hospital from his residence on Saturday afternoon. In the same video he can be seen getting off the ambulance to touch the feet of an elderly woman.
This had attracted scathing criticism from social media users.
Jagajeevanram Nagar police station inspector Shivaji Rao confirmed the development and said that procedural action was being taken.
The First Information Report against him has been registered under sections 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 270 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) 271 (disobedience of quarantine rule) of the Indian Penal Code and the provisions of the National Disaster Management Authority Act.
Pasha had tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday evening. It later came to light that the corporator had tested positive without any known contact with an already infected individual or any relevant travel history.
Padarayanapura ward, incidentally, has the highest number of cases in Bengaluru with a total of 67 cases as of Saturday evening. It was sealed off during the initial days of the lockdown. It had made headlines after violence erupted on April 20 in the ward. Many residents of the ward began rioting after they were asked by BBMP and health department officials to undergo institutional quarantine.
At the time 11 persons were confirmed positive for COVID-19 from the ward including four Tablighi Jamaat attendees. Following the violence, around 120 persons were arrested out of whom five tested positive for the disease.