Police lathicharge villagers trying to disrupt elderly woman's cremation in Ambala

Ambala police resorted to lathicharge after a group of people in a village tried to disrupt the cremation of an elderly woman over suspicions that she might have died of COVID-19 infection. As a precautionary measure, doctors collected her sample and sent it for testing.

Ambala (Punjab): Police lathi-charged a group of people in a village here on Monday after they tried to disrupt the cremation of an elderly woman over suspicions that she might have died of COVID-19 infection.

residents of Chandpur village, adjoining the Ambala cantonment, attempted to disrupt the last rites of the woman being performed at the local cremation ground in the evening, the police said.

The villagers suspected that the woman might have died of COVID-19 infection and feared that the cremation would spread the virus in the area, they said.

The crowd was assured that there was no such risk and asked not to oppose the cremation, the police said.

They further said that the woman died at a civil hospital at Ambala Cantt in the afternoon as she was admitted thereafter complaining of breathing problems.

As a precautionary measure, doctors collected her sample and sent it for testing, hospital sources said.

When the relatives of the deceased reached the cremation ground at Chandpura, the villagers opposed them, the police said.

Following reports of tension, senior police officers reached the area but the villagers refused to budge, they said.

Later, police had to use mild lathi-charge to control the situation. The deceased was cremated there in the presence of the police, the officials said.

Superintendent of Police, Ambala, Abhishek Jorwal said that around a dozen villagers were taken into custody and further investigations were underway.

(PTI Report)