The cremation was carried out after the crowd was dispersed by police
Residents of a village in Haryana's Ambala clashed with the police and threw stones at doctors on Monday evening as they protested the cremation of a COVID-19 suspect. The woman, in her early 60s, died due to an illness at the city's civil hospital on Monday.
Violating the nationwide lockdown, the residents of Chandpura village threw stones at the police and doctors at the cremation ground. Police had to open fire in the air to disperse the unruly mob.
The cremation was carried out after the crowd was dispersed.
A doctor said that the coronavirus test result of the woman is awaited.
"The woman had asthma and on Monday afternoon she started facing difficulty in maintaining oxygen saturation. She died while undergoing treatment. We collected her samples for COVID-19 testing and after following the due procedure and SOPs we released her body for the cremation at a designated place to the district administration," civil surgeon Dr Kuldeep Singh said.
The doctor added that all SOPs for the cremation of a COVID-19 suspect as well as a confirmed patient is the same and that all safety measures were taken for this case as well.
"The villagers unnecessarily opposed the cremation," Dr Singh added.
Police said their attempts to pacify the villagers were in vain.
"We attempted to pacify them while informing that all the safety measures are being adopted, but they did not listen. Soon, they started throwing stones at doctors and policemen. They also damaged an ambulance. We had to use some force to disperse the crowd," Ambala Cantonment DSP Ram Kumar said.
He added that a case will be filed against the residents for violating the lockdown and attacking the police and doctors.
There are 12 confirmed coronavirus cases in Ambala. Haryana has 289 cases with 3 deaths.