On Camera, Bihar Home Guard Seeking Officer's Lockdown Pass "Punished"

A video of the incident has gone viral on social media.

A video has surfaced from Bihar's Araria district - about 320 km from Patna - that shows a home guard being punished after he asked an agricultural officer for a lockdown pass amid a nationwide shutdown over the coronavirus pandemic.

In the nearly 20-second clip, which has been widely shared on social media, the jawan is seen doing sit-ups as the agricultural officer - Manoj Kumar- and others admonish him. Another man, apparently the jawan's senior, is heard shouting as he asks: "How could you stop him... he is a senior agricultural officer."

The jawan is wearing a black face cover, others including the agricultural officer are not wearing masks, advised by the government to contain the spread of the highly infectious COVID-19. A man standing behind him - one of his colleagues - is among the mute spectators in the group.

He had reportedly stopped the officer, asked for a lockdown pass. An inquiry has now been ordered into the incident.

Many on social media reacted sharply to the incident, urging authorities concerned to take action. "Such disgraceful behaviour by an officer with a homeguard jawan in Araria (Bihar) . I hope justice will prevail," wrote one user.

Visuals are from my home dist Araria Bihar,a constable has been treated very badly bcz he stopped senior officer for corona regarding checking pic.twitter.com/JEsWhLzWaU

— Ammar Bin Masoom (@bin_masoom) April 20, 2020

One of the users shared a picture of the home guard that shows him bowing before the officer with folded hands. "He is a home gard ( sepoy) and his mistake is he dared to check the #COVID19 vehicle pass of the Araria agriculture officer Mr. Manoj Kumar. @NitishKumar. (sic)," the tweet reads.

"Sir @IPSGupteshwar. These are the images of Araria District where a agriculture officer is punishing a home guard javan behind the reason to stop the vehicle of officer by javan during theirs duties in lock down. I request to take strict action against officer," another user wrote.

Across India, more than 18,000 coronavirus cases have been reported so far, at least 590 have died. A strict nationwide lockdown is in place since March 25 that discourages people from travelling unless absolutely necessary.