A 73-year-old retired employee of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) was hit on his forehead by a brick on Saturday here in the Birbhum town for raising his voice against some people who were not wearing masks.

The police said the accused, Sheikh Soven, 60, had picked up the brick from the roadside and hit Nirmal Sinha on the forehead.

Soven has been arrested on the charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt and under the provisions of the disaster management Act.

“The elderly man did what an aware citizen should do by asking people to wear masks but he was injured. We have arrested the accused,” said a police officer.

Sinha, a resident of Ramkrishna Pally, had stepped out of his home for his usual morning walk. While returning home, he found a group of people chatting on the road. As a few of them were not wearing masks, Sinha asked them to wear the face shield that has been made mandatory to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

“I told them to wear masks for everyone’s safety, including theirs. Hearing this, one of them turned furious and hurled abuses at me. When I protested against the verbal abuse, a person came and hit me on my forehead with a brick,” said Sinha, who got first-aid.

Residents said Sinha was a known Covid-19 awareness campaigner in the area and occasionally advised people to wear masks.

Birbhum lockdown

Birbhum district magistrate issued an order on Saturday evening to impose a lockdown across the district from Sunday to July 31 from noon to 6am to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Earlier, the administration had issued an order to implement the lockdown in six municipal towns only.