Coronavirus: Cases filed in Satara, Shirdi for flouting mass gathering ban

Mumbai, March 15  

Five people were booked in Satara in Maharashtra for violating social distancing rules in place to tackle the coronavirus outbreak by organising a religious event on March 13 in which over 5,000 people participated, police said on Sunday.

These five are members of the ‘Bavdhan Yatra Sanyojan Samiti’ that organises the ‘Bavdhan Yatra’ in Wai in Satara, some 230 kilometers from the metropolis.

“Despite an order by the collector banning such gatherings in view of the novel coronavirus outbreak, they went ahead and organised the yatra in which over 5,000 people from different parts of the state took part,” Satara Superintendent of Police Tejaswini Satpute told PTI.

Police identified them as Rajendra Abaji Bhosle (president), Deepak Dilip Nanaware (vice president), Ankush Jagannath Kumbhar (secretary), Sachin Appaso Bhosle (treasurer) and Sambhaji Shivaji Dabhade (member).

An official said they have been booked under section 188 (disobedience of an order duly promulgated by a public servant) of the IPC and section 153 of the Maharashtra Police Act, but no arrests have been made as yet.

A case was also registered in Shirdi in Ahmednagar district against some people for organising a ‘parikrama’ by flouting social distancing orders in place to stop the novel coronavirus outbreak, an official said.

“An FIR has been registered against Shirdi Parikrama Mahotsav Samiti organiser Jitendra Shelke, Ajit Sampatlal Parakh and Mahotsav Samiti members of Khandiba Mandir. They held the parikrama despite not having permission. We have not made any arrests,” he said. — PTI