COVID-19: Scribe booked for attending ex-CM's presser while daughter was in quarantine

Bhopal: A case has been registered against a journalist here, who attended the March 20 press conference where Kamal Nath announced his resignation as Madhya Pradesh chief minister, even as his daughter had been advised ‘home quarantine after her return from the UK.

Days after the press conference, the journalist and his daughter had tested positive for the infection.

A case was registered against the journalist on Friday night at Shyamla Hills Police Station under IPC sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), a Bhopal police spokesman said.

The journalist was booked for violating the government’s preventive orders related to coronavirus pandemic.

The journalist’s daughter, a post-graduate law student, had returned from London to Bhopal on March 18. She had been asked to observe home quarantine. But two days after her arrival, the journalist attended Kamal Nath’s last press conference as the CM on March 20, official sources said.

On March 22, the journalist’s daughter tested positive for coronavirus. Three days later, the journalist was also found infected, creating a panic among the mediapersons and others who had attended the press conference, sources said.

So far, 33 positive coronavirus cases have been found in the state. Sixteen of them are residents of Indore, eight of Jabalpur, three each of Bhopal and Ujjain, two of Shivpuri and one of Gwalior, the health department officials have said.

Of them, two COVID-19 patients, one each from Indore and Ujjain, have died.