Police registered an FIR against the organiser of a marathon on Sunday in Gujarat's Gir Somnath district where around 500 people participated without maintaining social distance or wearing face masks, an official said.
As per the Gujarat government's latest SOPs, not more than 400 people are allowed to gather for any social, political or religious event, in view of the rising COVID-19 cases.
However, around 500 people gathered during the marathon organised by the Bharat Vikas Parishad (a social organisation) in Veraval town in the morning, an official from Veraval police station said.
The participants were not wearing face masks or maintaining social distance, which was in violation of the COVID-19 guidelines laid down by the state government and notifications issued by district collector, the official said.
A case was registered against the event organiser, Kalpesh Shah, under Indian Penal Code Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 270 (malignant act likely to spread infectious disease), as well as provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act and the Disaster Management Act, he said.
Gujarat has seen a sharp rise in daily COVID-19 cases, with 5,677 new cases reported on Saturday, raising the state's infection tally to 8,55,929.
The state has also so far reported more than 200 cases of the highly infectious Omicron variant of COVID-19.
