On Tuesday, a 23-year-old was arrested for spreading rumours about a person testing positive for Covid-19 in Subhanpur village, Kapurthala.
The accused, Arashpreet Singh, circulated a video on WhatsApp groups claiming that a woman in the locality had tested positive for the pandemic COVID-19 when health workers conducted a survey.
Inquiry officer and assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Gurmail Singh said a case had been registered after local panchayat members and heath officials filed a complaint against the man for spreading fake news about a coronavirus. The woman in question had tested negative.
The accused has been arrested under Sections 188 (disobeying a public official’s order) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) and Section 54 of the Disaster Management Act.
For the uninitiated, the nation is currently witnessing lockdown 3.0 to fight COVID-19 pandemic. In Punjab, 15 new coronavirus cases, taking the state’s case tally to 1,247.
Muktsar reported 15 new cases of the deadly disease, taking the total in the district to 64.
The first special train carrying 1,188 migrant workers stranded in Punjab is set to leave Jalandhar for Daltonganj in Jharkhand. Migrants across India have been left without work amid the lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus.
