A young mother of two spent a night cooped up in a car with her children outside her home in Odisha after local people refused to let her enter the house, as fears over contracting Covid-19 from those returning from outside got the better of old neighbourly ties.
Police later shifted Rakhi Singh, 38, an ayurvedic practitioner who had visited Telangana to attend an event but got stuck because of the lockdown, to a government-run quarantine centre on Friday.
Her husband and their children too have been admitted to the centre.
Rakhi’s Thursday night harassment coincided with a sudden spike in coronavirus-positive cases. Odisha has so far recorded 377 cases, including three deaths, but the number of positive cases has increased rapidly from 74 on April 20 — a rise local people blame on the state’s decision to allow migrants to return.
Dr Seema Parija, a psychiatrist at SCB Medical College, Cuttack, said the incident, which came to light on Saturday, was just the tip of the iceberg.
“Reports of such intolerance are pouring in as people are scared of contracting the infection from outsiders. This is mainly due to lack of knowledge. There is a need to create awareness,” Parija told The Telegraph.
Rakhi had returned to Bhubaneswar on Thursday from Sangareddy, Telangana, which has recorded over 1,100 Covid-19 cases so far, including 30 deaths.
“I had started my journey from Sangareddy on May 6 with my 16-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son in my sister’s car. On the border of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, on May 7 afternoon, I registered my name using my Aadhaar card. According to the Aadhaar card, my home is in the Niladri Vihar area of Bhubaneswar where I used to stay earlier in a rented house. But now I have shifted to another place in Gandarpur on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.”
The family had bought a plot near Gandarpur and shifted to a rented house in the area so they could start the construction. It was in Gandarpur where Rakhi had to face the harassment, though she must have got an inkling earlier.
The trouble began when her landlord in Gandarpur informed the local village sarpanch that Rakhi, along with her family members, was returning to Bhubaneswar from Telangana. “On the way to Bhubaneswar, I received a call from the sarpanch that I won’t be allowed to enter my house as I was coming from Telangana. When I said I had the option of availing home-quarantine facility, she disconnected the line,” Rakhi told this newspaper from the quarantine centre.
After reaching Bhubaneswar — Rakhi’s husband had joined her by then — the family approached the Nandankanan police station, the nearest from their place. But the police kept them waiting, she said.
“Later, they asked me to go to the office of the deputy commissioner of police where a cell has been opened to help people coming from outside the state. There they told me to go to Chandrasekharpur police station as my previous home address, Niladri Vihar, came under its jurisdiction. Chandrasekharpur police sent me back to Nandankanan police station. I kept shifting between police stations with my children the whole night. We slept a little in our car and on May 8 morning went home escorted by the police.”
As soon as they entered Gandarpur, the local people started hurling abuses at them, Rakhi said. “Even people I used to give medicines free of cost did not spare me. Later, I was shifted to the government quarantine centre along with my family.”
Asked why she had not lodged a police complaint, she said: “Ultimately, I have to return to the same village and stay there as I have already bought a plot there.”
Gandarpur sarpanch Pravasini Sasmal said: “We did not misbehave with her. People are scared of the virus. They don’t want any outsider to enter the village. When the house owner informed us about this family coming from Telangana, we suggested they should stay at a government-run quarantine centre of our village. As the issue snowballed, the police took them to another government-run centre.”
Senior police officials said they had started an investigation into the incident.
