Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh): Around 150 residents of Aligarh’s Memdi village in Uttar Pradesh attended a rather grand procession for the final rites of a cow. All the people who were a part of this rally have been booked for breaking the norms.
A video of the incident captured by one of the witnesses went viral on social media after which, a case was registered against 25 identified and 125 unidentified people under sections 188 (disobedience) and 269 (act likely to spread infection) of the IPC and section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, on Saturday. Among the people charged in the case, there are about a hundred women.
According to the Civil Lines circle officer Anil Kumar, the locals of the Memdi village started the procession for the burial of the cow on Thursday morning.
The cow was left abandoned since many years and was sick since the past few days. It was later found dead near a general store owned by a local man named Dinesh Chandra Sharma.
The store owner and the other local villagers planned to organize the burial for the cow with utmost respect and honor.
As the cow is considered to be a ‘holy animal’ by certain religious groups, locals of the specific village or town often do carry out the final rites of it with many people participating.
Dinesh, the general store owner, however said that he couldn’t stop anyone from participating in the procession. He said, “If some people took part in the funeral at their own will, how can I stop them? I took her for the burial. There is nothing wrong in it. I am ready to face any action.”
The cow was residing in the village from the past many years though she dint belong to any specific villager. Hence, the local people felt that it was their responsibility to grant her an appropriate funeral as she was a part of the village.
As told by the police, the people of the village who had congregated for the burial of the cow walked through the streets, completely violating all the social distancing regulations. They weren’t even found to be wearing face masks.
This shows the mindset of the people towards a pandemic which has taken the lives of thousands of people across the globe. With numbers growing each day of the people infected with the virus, such incidents prove why the curve isn’t flattening. As long as people do not follow the restrictions and physical distancing norms, the virus will be in no mood to leave the country. Although the maximum number of people to be allowed for a funeral is 25, as warned by the government, we can still find people taking part in rallies and events without any fear of the virus encapsulating their lives.
