RANCHI: The police resorted to lathi-charge after locals at ‘Swarnrekha Burning Ghat’ at Bhuiyandih under Sitaramdera police station in Jamshedpur pelted stones on administration opposing cremation of a 71-year-old man who died of coronavirus on Saturday.
The crowd, mostly women, also ransacked the cremation centre leaving at least one lady constable and two others injured.
When administration reached ‘Swarnrekha Burning Ghat’ for cremating the dead body of Covid-19 person, hundreds of locals gathered and started opposing the creation saying that the smoke coming out of the pyre will spread coronavirus further.
“The disturbance was being created for cremating body of a corona positive man. Their concern was that the smoke coming out of the pyre will infect them but we were trying to convince them that coronavirus does not gets transmitted through smoke,” said SP City Subhash Chandra Jaat.
In between, a lady hit a stone on the head of a lady constable while some others also pelted stones on the police force”.Police had to apply light force to disperse the crowd, he added.
“Around 10 protesting women have been taken into custody to find out whether it was a sudden act or was a conspiracy to create disturbance,” said the SP.
The cremation, however, was done after the crowd dispersed.
Jaat, however, claimed that no force was applied but the locals said that the police applied batons to disperse the crowd only after which the cremation could be done.