MP: 47 persons locked in houses for breaking quarantine

Forty-seven persons were locked in their houses for 12 hours in Chhattarpur district on Friday as they kept violating quarantine, an official said. These people had returned to Raj Nagar tehsil from cities such as Indore and Bhopal which are hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Swapnil Bankhede said the tehsil authorities were compelled to lock these persons at home as they were frequently venturing out.

"Since March 25, they are permitted to go out of the tehsil only in emergency, like for attending funerals or for medical reasons," he said. "After they returned from places such as Indore and Bhopal, they were placed under quarantine," the SDM added.

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"But they often left home and loitered on roads, forcing us to lock them up," Bankhede said.

Officials unlocked the houses at 5.30 pm, 12 hours later, after coming under fire over the action.

"I got information that 47 people have been locked in Rajgarh and Khajuraho to enforce lockdown," former chief minister Kamal Nath tweeted. "This move is arbitrary, oppressive and inhumane," the Congress leader added.

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