The video of a middle-aged man carrying his ailing father on his shoulder in Kerala's Punalur on a hot sunny day, after the police allegedly stopped his rickshaw, cannot hold out any human sentiments.
The man was reportedly forced to carry his father who was just discharged from a hospital. He had to carry him on his shoulders for 100 metres after the police stopped his auto-rickshaw for not possessing the self-declaration form that permits travel during the lockdown.
Video goes viral
The video, that went viral on social media, garnered rude comments and dislikes over the inhumane action by the police department. Roy, a native of Kulathupuzha and an auto driver was on his way to bring back his father George from the Punalur Taluk Hospital when the police personnel on duty stopped his vehicle.
The cops alleged that the vehicle did not have the needed documents to move amid the lockdown restrictions. Roy, although tried to convince the personnel about his father's failing health conditions showing the hospital documents, was not shown mercy. 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.
The video shows Roy carrying his bare-bodied father on his shoulders, struggling to handle the weight while his mother, carrying the hospital documents and packets carrying prescriptions and other items running along with him.
George was admitted to the hospital on April 12 with a urinary infection. As the heart-wrenching video of the family went viral, the Kerala State Human Rights Commission took suo motu cognizance of the incident, asking the Kollam Rural SP to file a report on the incident within three weeks.
The police explain
The police, on the other hand, have provided a different version of the incident. They claim that the rickshaw, when asked to stop by, had no patient in it.
The driver, with no declaration document, stepped out of the vehicle, walked to the hospital nearby and returned carrying his father on back, says the officials.
Video of the man carrying his father on shoulders:
#WATCH Kerala: A person carried his 65-year-old ailing father in Punalur & walked close to one-kilometre after the autorickshaw he brought to take his father back from the hospital was allegedly stopped by Police, due to #CoronavirusLockdown guidelines. (15.4) pic.twitter.com/I03claE1XO
— ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2020
