A Teenager Forced To Undergo For Covid-19 Test In Bengaluru

On Monday, contract workers at Bengaluru's Bruhat Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) allegedly thrashed a teen and forced him to do a Covid-19 test.

On Monday morning, the incident took place near the Dharmaraya Swamy Temple ward in the Chickpet constituency in the city's South Zone. Two officials were allegedly seen punching and pulling a teenaged boy towards the temporary sample collection stand set up in front of the temple in the footage. When the youngster attempted to flee, he was beaten up and shoved beneath the table to provide samples.

The incident was recorded on the phone and was circulated in the social media which went viral.

Similar incident took place, when the BBMP officials were seen torturing another youngster in the same place to give a sample for Covid-19 testing in another. The video was uploaded by a Twitter user on May 24.

The local authority was obliged to close the testing centre after these videos went viral on social media and received criticism from all sides.

Gaurav Gupta, the BBMP Chief Commissioner, took to Twitter to condemn the reported physical confrontation between BBMP employees and promised that an investigation would be conducted into the situation. He also mentioned in his tweet that no forceful testing is allowed.

A suo moto complaint was launched by the Bengaluru Central Division Police investigating the incident, and a FIR was lodged against a BBMP booth level officer.

While explaining the incident,DCP (Central) M N Anucheth said that BBMP officials from Dasappa BBMP Hospital conducted Covid testing near Nagratpet, and a person named Kishan misunderstood it for vaccination and registered himself. He realised the situation when the OTP he received was for Covid-19 testing, not vaccination, and he declined to take the test. Then the officer forced him to take the test at that point. He also added that a FIR has been filed against the BBMP official under sections 341, 323, and 504 of the Indian Penal Code.