"I am an enemy of society, I wouldn't stay at home" reads posters held aloft by citizens of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday.
In case you were wondering, this is not some unique protest against the coronavirus, but an effort by the Uttar Pradesh police to make those violating the Janata curfew realise the error of their ways.
The police reserved the pamphlets for those who were found wandering aimlessly on the streets in Bareilly. Photos posted by ANI show the posters written in Hindi being held aloft by motorists as the police stands by them.
While the Janata Curfew had been voluntary, people had been strongly urged to stay home unless absolutely necessary. The initiative, put forth by Prime Minister Modi last week, was aimed at reducing the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country. India has so far recorded over 400 positive cases.
While officials in Uttar Pradesh appeared to be restricting themselves to handing out pamphlets, others were not quite as lenient. In Maharashtra's Bhiwandi, police officials thrashed a man who was roaming in Nadi Naka area of Shelar village in rural Bhiwandi.
Not too far away, the Navi Mumbai police detained 37 people for stepping out of their house without any reasonable explanation as to why they had done so.
Globally the coronavirus has affected over 343,400 people and killed more than 15,000 people. Italy is the hardest-hit country with 5,476 deaths, followed by China where the virus first emerged last year with 3,270, and Spain with 2,182.
