The Raisen police have registered an FIR against a Muslim fruit vendor after a video of him, licking the fruits which he displays in a cart for sale went viral on social media. The police have booked the fruit vendor under IPC 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) on April 3.

The police registered the FIR on the basis of a complaint lodged by a youth named Bodhraj Tipta. According to the FIR Bodhraj was sitting in a local pan shop at around 5 pm on 16th February along with one of his friend named Bavishya Kumar, when he saw the accused, Sheru Miyan (as he was referred to) deliberately contaminating the fruits with his saliva before he sold it to his customers. Bodhraj claims that he shot a video of Sheru indulging in this disgraceful act on his mobile phone and lodged a complaint with the police.

Copy of the FIR registered against the fruit vendor

In the video, the fruit vendor in Raisen, Madhya Pradesh, is seen arranging a variety of fruits on his cart, which he parks in the middle of a market place. While arranging the fruits on the cart, the vendor is seen picking up the fruit one at a time. And each time he picks up a fruit to arrange in the cart, he first purposely licks his hand and then uses the same hand, smeared with his saliva, to pick up the fruits and re-arrange on his cart. He purposely contaminates the fruits which he would eventually be selling to his customers.

According to the daughter of the man, her father’s mental health is not sound and he did it unintentionally. She claimed that her father was licking his fingers and the fruits due to his habit of counting notes. She also suggested conspiracy behind releasing the two months old video now. She accused that the video has been released now due to the current situation.

At the time when India is battling to contain the scourge of the Coronavirus, which spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes, many people are intentionally trying to spread the infection by indulging in such shameful acts.

Yesterday, the Nasik rural police have taken to Twitter to inform that a Muslim man, whose video of licking and wiping nose with a bunch of currency notes and calling Coronavirus a punishment by Allah was doing rounds on social media, has now been identified and is in police custody.

The video showed a Muslim man taking a bunch of currency notes and licking them with his tongue and wiping his nose with them. He says that the coronavirus has no treatment because it is sent by ‘Allah’, implying that he is going to pass those currency notes around, to spread the disease.

Moreover, some Islamists had taken to TikTok to ‘welcome’ the Chinese coronavirus to India. In videos posted by Islamists on the page, one can see them saying, “Welcome to India, coronavirus. To the ones who were asking for our NRC, my God (Allah)’s NRC is now being implemented. Now only He will decide who will stay and who will go.”

Many even took to the Chinese video-sharing app to extend their support to Maulana Saad of Tablighi Jamaat.

Lies are also spread about Tablighi Jamaat. Some videos are going viral which claim that none of the Jamaati at Markaz in Nizamuddin were tested positive for coronavirus.

Some Islamists on TikTok even promised to continue their support for Nizamuddin Markaz, which has emerged as Coronavirus hotspot, till the end of life.