Pune policemen brutally beat Bihari youth

Pune, 20 April 2020: A very shocking video has emerged from the Kothrud area of ​​the city, in which policemen and other people are seen beating a man on the road. The video has gone viral on social media. Police accused the youth of spitting on them.

According to Kothrud police station officials, Amit Kumar Varma, a labourer from Bihar, has been put up at temporary relief camp at PMC school near Shivaji Maharaj statue in Kothrud. There are about 40 labourers at the temporary shelter home.

Police said he fled because he was not getting Bidi, liquor and wanted to go back to his native place. However, police caught him. When police, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) staffs and other people tried to take him back to the shelter home, he allegedly started arguing with them for allowing him to go to his native place. The cops accused the labourer of spitting on him. Following which the cops and others beat him up badly with baton and later took him to the relief camp.

Senior Inspector Pratibha Joshi of in-charge of Kothrud police station said that a man named Amit Kumar Verma had escaped from a shelter home. When the policemen tried to apprehend him, he first spit on him and then attacked them.

Inspector Joshi further said that the man was repeatedly asking for liquor, tobacco and cigarettes, which are not available in the shelter home. We had also received complaints that he had also urinated in the open several times in the shelter home. Currently, he has been caught and sent back to the shelter home. At present, no case has been registered in this regard.

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA): No movement of labour to be permitted outside the State/UT where they are currently located

Due to the spread of COVID-19 virus, workers employed in industry, agriculture, construction and other sectors have moved from their respective places of work, and are housed in relief/ shelter camps being run by State/ UT Governments. Since additional new activities, outside the containment zones, have been permitted in the consolidated revised guidelines with effect from 20^th April 2020, these workers could be engaged in industrial, manufacturing, construction, farming and MNREGA works. 

In continuation of Ministry of Home Affairs’s earlier Orders dated 29^th March, 2020, 15^th April, 2020 and 16^th April 2020, a Standard Operating Protocol (SOP), for movement of stranded labour within the State/UTs has been issued to Ministries/Departments of Government of India, State/Union Territory Governments and State/ Union Territory Authorities, with the directions for its strict implementation. In order to facilitate their movement within the State/UT, the following guidelines may be followed:

• The migrant labourers currently residing in relief/ shelter camps in States/UTs should be registered with the concerned local Authority and their skill mapping be carried out to find out their suitability for various kinds of works.
• In the event, that a group of migrants wish to return to their places of work, within the State where they are presently located, they would be screened and those who are asymptomatic would be transported to their respective places of work. 
• It may be noted that there shall be no movement of labour outside the State/UT where they are currently located.
• During the journey by bus, it would be ensured that safe social distancing norms are followed and the buses used for transport are sanitized as per the guidelines of the Health authorities. 
• The National Directives for COVID-19 Management issued under the consolidated revised guidelines dated 15^th April 2020 shall be strictly followed.
• The local authorities shall also provide for food and water etc., for the duration of their journey.