Covid-19: UP to slap NSA against people who attack cops enforcing lockdown

The stringent National Security Act (NSA) will be slapped on people who attack policeman enforcing the lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the Uttar Pradesh government said on Friday.

The state government's move to invoke the NSA comes in view of reports of several incidents of attack on policemen enforcing the lockdown.

"The police is doing its duty by preventing people to come out during lockdown. There have been incidents in the state in which policemen were attacked by people. To deter such persons, it has been decided to invoke NSA against such persons," a senior Home Department official told PTI.

The move is aimed to deter those who are taking lockdown lightly and even attacking policemen when they are prevented, he said.

In one such incident in Muzaffar Nagar, a sub-inspector and a constable were seriously injured when a police team trying to enforce the ongoing lockdown was attacked by a group of villagers on Apr 1.

The police team was patrolling Morna village area in Muzaffar Nagar and had spotted the residents gathered outside. When the villagers were asked to follow the prohibitory orders, they started pelting stones at the police personnel while some of them even started attacking the officials with iron roads.

Some other such incidents have also been reported in the state where people are not taking the lockdown seriously, he said.