india

Updated: Mar 16, 2020 13:21 IST

A case was registered on Sunday against the father of a woman who tested positive for coronavirus (Covid-19) for concealing his daughter’s illness and misleading the health department officials who had gone to his house to get her admitted to the isolation ward in SN Medical College and Hospital.

Agra district magistrate (DM) Prabhu N Singh ordered the filing of an First Information Report (FIR) against the father for misleading a team of doctors.

The woman, who lives in Agra Cantonment railway colony, had recently travelled to Italy for her honeymoon. After the couple returned, her husband tested positive for Covid-19 in Bengaluru, while she returned to her family here.

The case was registered under Section 269 (unlawfully or negligently doing something which is likely to spread infection of any disease dangerous to life) and Section 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease danger­ous to life) of the Indian Penal Code at Sadar Bazar police station.

The complaint was lodged by Dr Vinay Kumar, additional chief medical officer (ACMO). “Twelve samples were sent to Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College under Aligarh Muslim University for Covid-19 test on Thursday,” Kumar said.

“Eleven samples were found negative. However, the woman’s sample was suspected to be positive because her husband had contracted the disease and was undergoing treatment in Bengaluru. She is in the highly suspect category,” said the complainant in his FIR.

When the ACMO and additional city magistrate Vinod Joshi reached the woman’s house on Friday, her father lied to them and said she was travelling to Delhi by Mangla Express and from there she would take a flight to Bengaluru.

The health officials informed the woman’s travel plans to DM Singh, who ordered filing of the FIR.

‘The father of the Covid-19 positive woman caused a lot of trouble for the district administration and health department because of false and misleading information about his daughter’s departure to Delhi. Later, she was found in the house, which proved that he misled us,” the complainant said in the FIR.

The woman’s sample was sent for reconfirmation to King George’s Medical University in Lucknow, and it tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday.

Senior superintendent of Police (SSP), Agra, Babloo Kumar said that strict action would be taken against the accused. The accused and his other family members have been placed under home quarantine as they were in close contact with the Covid-19 patient.