Yesterday (14 March 2020), The Times of India (TOI) ran a report titled ‘Infected techie’s wife fled B’luru by air, took Del-Agra train, tests +ve’. The report was filed from Agra and was carried in both print and online platforms of the news agency.

The report quoted health officials as saying that the wife, who had recently returned from her honeymoon in Italy and was put under quarantine after her husband showed symptoms of the disease, escaped from Bengaluru on 8 March, took a flight to New Delhi, and then went to Agra to be with her parents.

The first version of the report said that the techie (to be referred to as Mr. H from here on) had been tested positive for COVID-19 (coronavirus) on 7 March. The dates, as the disclaimer on the updated digital report suggests, came from the Agra health officials. The updated report says that Mr. H, a Google employee, was tested positive on 12 March. The last update to the report was made at 22:05 IST on 14 March.

The report also accused the wife of Mr. H (to be referred to as Mrs. H from here on) of resisting the attempt of the health officials to take her and eight other family members to isolation wards, and it was only after the intervention of the district magistrate and police force that Mrs. H could be taken to an isolation ward along with her family members.

Further, the report also stated that the father of Mrs. H, a railway engineer, refused to cooperate with the team of health officials and also lied that his daughter had left for Bengaluru.

The other details included the couple’s return date, 27 February, from their honeymoon to Italy, Greece, and France. On 7 March, the report states, that the husband tested positive, and they both were quarantined in Bengaluru. Mrs. H, as per the same report, returned to Agra on 8 March.

Filed from Agra, the report was first accessed by this correspondent on Saturday morning. A clipping of the newspaper report had started going viral on social media, especially on Twitter. At the time of writing this article, the report has more than 1,350 comments, almost all of them demeaning and disrespectful.

Among other things, many social media users called for the arrest of Mrs. H. Some even demanded the invoking of Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act. Other remarks online ridiculed the couple for their irresponsibility and callous attitude.

Late on Saturday, Swarajya reached out to the younger sibling or Mr. H. In a phone conversation with this correspondent, the brother of Mr. H (to be referred to as Mr. J from here), discussed how the family had been shaken by the reactions online, and how the chronology of events being reported was completely false.

Mr. J spoke with Swarajya on the condition of anonymity, and for the security of their family, no personal information shall be disclosed in this report.

The couple got married sometime in mid-February. The correspondent learned that the couple travelled to Athens, Greece, from Delhi for their honeymoon on 23 February.