COVID-19: 5 Held for Allegedly Thrashing ASHA Worker in Faridabad

ASHA workers are women who are an interface between the community and the public health system. Image used for representational purposes.

(Photo Courtesy: The News Minute)

An ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activists) worker was allegedly beaten up by five people in Faridabad on Tuesday, 21 April. This happened when she was conducting the door-to-door survey amid the COVID-19 crisis, as instructed by the district administration. The five accused have been arrested by the Faridabad police.

The police told The Indian Express that the incident happened at Ashiyana Apartment, which is a gated locality in Sector 62 in Faridabad. Ird Khan, alias Pappu, Hafiz, Shekhawat, Nafis, and Jalalu are the five accused who have been arrested. They are residents of the same locality and an FIR has been registered against them.

Rekha Sharma, the ASHA officer who suffered injures, told The Indian Express that the family simply refused to cooperate. Post that, she called her senior coworker, but the family allegedly misbehaved with him as well.

The police had to eventually intervene but the members of the society allegedly beat them up with sticks. “He finally called the police, who also tried to make them understand but a crowd eventually gathered, and people became aggressive and beat us up with sticks…All I had asked them was if there was anybody in the house who had travelled from outside, or attended the Jamaat,” Rekha told The Indian Express.

The police corroborated Rekha’s claim and said their efforts to intervene were thwarted by members of the society.

A few weeks ago the same happened to ASHA workers in Bengaluru. Five people were arrested by the police for allegedly misbehaving with ASHA workers as they conducted a door-to-door survey in light of COVID-19 in Bengaluru’s Hennur area on 1 April.

A crowd of angry citizens in north Bengaluru had allegedly abused two Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) for enquiring into their health and travel history at Sadiq Layout in Hennur police station limits, where a group of 10-15 ASHAs were conducting a survey of residents, in light of a positive case being reported from a neighbouring locality of Sarayipalya.