Animated film to check boycott of returnees in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow: With workers returning to their villages facing social boycott, Basti District Magistrate Ashutosh Niranjan is pro-actively attempting to apply the healing touch. A one-minute animated film in the local dialect is being used to censure those indulging in harassment of the returning workers. A voiceover informs that every person returning from other states is being screened and asked to follow the instructions. TNS

150 booked for ‘grand funeral’ of cow in Aligarh

Lucknow: Defying lockdown and ignoring social distancing norms, at least 150 persons took out a grand procession at Memdi village in Aligarh to bury a cow carcass. After the procession’s video went viral on the social media, the police lodged an FIR against 25 identified and 125 unidentified persons. The abandoned cow had been sick for the past few days and was found dead near a general store, the owner of which organised its last rites in a grand manner. TNS

Teenager walks 80 km to marry fiancé

Kanpur: A 19-year-old woman walked 80 km from Kanpur to Kannauj to wed her fiancé, alone and unafraid. Goldie decided not to play the coy bride and trekked the distance from her village Laxman Tilak in Kanpur Dehat district to Basaipur village in Kannauj district, said a police official. Asked about the unusual marriage in his jurisdiction, Kannauj SP Amrendra Singh said Goldie and Virendra Kumar Rathor alias Veeru were to get married on May 4. But couldn’t owing to the lockdown. PTI