VIJAYAWADA: In a first in the country, a court in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday sentenced a group of 13 people to two days' imprisonment and penalised each of them Rs 1,000 for violating the lockdown imposed to battle the Covid-19 spread.

While people have been booked for violating the nationwide shutdown imposed by PM Narendra Modi two days ago, this is the first instance of a court sentencing people to jail for the crime. Under Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act, a person can be jailed for a term which may extend up to one year for violating government orders during lockdown.

Pileru circle inspector Sadiq Ali said the officials had been creating awareness about the lockdown through loudspeakers after the PM's address, but many of the residents ignored the call to down shutters. "We found several people flouting norms," he said.

"We booked cases against owners of non-essential commercial establishments and autorickshaw drivers among others. We are hoping this conviction is an eye-opener for all."

In another case in Chittoor district, police registered a case against a handful of locals for allegedly spreading misinformation against a businessman on WhatsApp . They were booked under Section 66 of the IT Amendment Act.

A ccording to the circle inspector, a chartered accountant travelled to Dubai on March 11 and returned on March 15. "Even though he did not display any symptoms, he was asked to self-isolate for 15 days," he said.

"But some locals started posting rumours on WhatsApp that the CA had contracted the disease. We tracked the miscreants to Kothapalli village in Gangavaram mandal ."

