‘Try and remove me,’ said ‘Maa Aadi Shakti’, a self-styled godwoman from Uttar Pradesh, as she brandished a sword and refused to call off a religious gathering when policemen tasked with enforcing a 21-day nationwide lockdown to fight coronavirus.
Watch the self styled god woman ‘Maa Aadi Shakti’ from UP. She takes out a sword and threatens the police refusing to dismiss a religious gathering.Why this woman is not getting treatment already? Is this even normal behaviour?pic.twitter.com/O9bueT8rTT
â Sanghamitra (@AudaciousQuest) March 25, 2020
The incident took place in the Mehwa Pudwa area of Deoria district on Wednesday, March 25 and was caught on camera. She was dragged away in a van and was subsequently arrested along with 12 other by a group of policewomen.
It took a mild lathi-charge to finally remove the ‘devotees’ – some all the way from neighbouring Bihar. The crowd had gathered there to mark the nine-day Chaitra Navratri festival, which began on March 25, the first day of the lockdown ordered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
As of now, over 560 people in the country have tested positive for coronavirus and 11 deaths have been reported While there were reports of 37 people being cured, the situation remains grim.
‘In the morning, we received a tip-off that a religious gathering was underway for Navratri and some people were doing faith healing there,’ Hindustan Times quoted Deoria superintendent of police Sripat Mishra, as saying.
‘On reaching the spot, the police appealed to the crowd to return home, telling them that Section 144 (of the CrPC) was in force across the state. But the self-styled godwoman became aggressive,’ he added.
Close to a 100 people had gathered at her home which is around 300 km from Lucknow.
‘After she refused to call-off the gathering, we had to use force to disperse the crowd and arrested 13 people, including the woman and her husband. FIRs (first information reports) under relevant sections have been lodged against all of them and they will be sent to jail,’ Mishra added.
Also Read: Lockdown: Here Is All You Need To Know
