"Such an act could expose me to coronavirus infection. In the heat of the moment, I could not note down the registration number of the bike," a Vakola Police official said quoting the woman's complaint.
Police are now scrutinizing the footage of nearby CCTV cameras to trace the accused. An FIR has been registered under sections 270 (Malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 352 (Punishment for assault or criminal force otherwise than on grave provocation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
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It seems that the coronavirus pandemic has become an excuse to express racists views. Incidents of harassment and attacks on people from the Northeast have been on the rise since the outbreak of the virus in India. Last month several cases of abuse were reported from different parts of the country. From forceful evictions in Gujarat and Kolkata to other incidents involving bikers who spat on people.
In Delhi’s North Campus area, a Manipuri girl had reported that while she was on her way to buy groceries a man in a two-wheeler spat on her and called her ‘Corona’.
In fact, Bollywood singer and former Indian Idol contestant Meiyang Chang also reported being called ‘Corona’ while on his morning walk in Mumbai. Chang, who is of Chinese descent, rose to fame after participating in Sony TV's popular singing reality show 'Indian Idol 3'. He told a leading daily “I have been called Chinese, Chinki, and Nepali in the past. I feel that as a country, we are casually racist, be it on the basis of color, caste, or ethnicity."
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju had also criticized the attacks and had said that it was due to ‘cultural ignorance, prejudice and lack of understanding’. Globally over 1,347,676 cases of coronavirus have been reported (data by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE). It is important to realize that the virus has not ethnicity and the infection does not discriminate.