A group of people on Monday opposed and attempted to disrupt the cremation of an elderly woman in Haryana’s Chandpur village in Ambala, as they suspected she died of COVID-19 and feared it would spread the disease, police said.
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The police said mild force was used to disperse the crowd, after they hurled stones on police personnel, municipal and Health Department officials at the cremation site.
“A team of health, police and municipal committee had come at the village to cremate the body of the woman, who died at a civil hospital at Ambala Cantt, but around 100-150 people, breaking the lockdown, came here and tried to oppose the cremation,” a police officer present at the site told reporters.
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He said when the police tired to ally their fears over the spread of COVID-19 infection, many started hurling stones, after which police had to use mild force to disperse them. “The deceased was later cremated in the presence of the police,” he said.
The deceased was admitted to the civil hospital after complaining of breathing problems, and her samples were sent for COVID-19 testing, the report of which was still awaited.
Ambala Superintendent of Police Abhishek Jorwal said police had detained a dozen villagers and investigation into the matter was under way.
