Assembly poll verdict in four states tomorrow

Kochi, Apr 16: A middle-aged man carrying his ailing father on his shoulders walked close to one-kilometre in Kerala’s Punalur when the autorickshaw he was driving was allegedly stopped by the police over the ongoing lockdown. He was bringing back his father from the hospital after he was discharged on Wednesday.

In a video that has gone viral on social media, the man can be seen carrying his bare-bodied father on the shoulders and struggling to handle the weight while a woman carrying the hospital documents, prescriptions and other items, is running along with him.

The incident took place in Punalur town of Kollam district.

The 65-year-old man, a native of Kulathupuzha, was released from the Punalur Taluk Hospital and his son was taking him home when he was stopped on the road. The man has alleged that even after he produced hospital documents, the police refused to let him pass with the autorickshaw.

The vehicle was stopped about a kilometre from their house in the middle of a traffic jam and the family had to walk the rest of the path. He said even after he told the police and showed papers from hospital he was not allowed to go.

After the video went viral in Kerala, the state human rights commission took suo motu cognizance of the incident.

The nationwide lockdown has prevented all non-essential movement in the public space while medical emergencies have been allowed. The extended lockdown will now continue till May 3.

According to the police, the vehicle did not have the patient when it was stopped. The driver was asked to show a declaration document.

He stepped out of the vehicle and walked to the hospital which was 200 metres from the checkpoint and returned carrying his father on the back, said the police.

Tezpur (Assam), Mar 2: Seven boys, who had appeared for their class 10 board examinations, were apprehended on Sunday for allegedly raping and killing a 12-year-old girl in Assam's Biswanath district, police said.

The girl was hanged from a tree after the crime.

The incident happened on Friday in Chakla village under the jurisdiction of Gohpur police station, they said.

A senior police officer told PTI that the culprits, all of them High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) examinees, were on the run, but were nabbed by a police team.

The accused after the examination had called the victim to a house on the pretext of organising a party and raped her, the officer said.

It is suspected that the girl was raped on Friday night and then hanged from a tree in a forest near the house, the senior police officer said.

The body was found on Saturday.

New Delhi, Jun 23: With an increase of 14,933 new cases and 312 deaths in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 count reached 4,40,215 on Tuesday.

According to the latest update by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), 14,011 deaths have been recorded due to the infection so far in the country.

The rise in confirmed cases today is lower than the highest spike of 15 thousand plus cases registered on Sunday.

The count includes 1,78,014 active cases, and 2,48,190 cured/discharged/migrated patients.

Maharashtra with 1,35,796 confirmed cases remains the worst-affected by the infection so far in the country. The state's count includes 61,807 active, 67,706 cured, discharged patients while 6,283 deaths have been reported due to the infection so far.

Meanwhile, the national capital's confirmed coronavirus cases reached 62,655.

2,233 deaths have been reported in Delhi due to the infection so far.

Tamil Nadu has reported 62,087 cases so far with toll increased to 794.