Gujarat Villagers Take Out Religious Procession To "Prevent Coronavirus", 86 Arrested: Cops

More than 80 people were arrested after a social media video showed them participating in a religious procession for performing a ritual to "protect" their village from the scourge of coronavirus in Prantij taluka in Gujarat's Sabarkantha district, police said on Tuesday.

Over a hundred people from Lalpur village took out the procession on May 22 to perform a ritual with a belief that it will "prevent coronavirus" from affecting their village, a local police official said.

He said some members of the procession beat drums while others, including women, carried a ''kalash'' or a small pot filled with sacred water on their heads.

Police came to know about the incident on Monday after a video went viral on social media, said Prantij police inspector PL Vaghela.

"We have registered an FIR against 28 identified and a hundred unidentified people for participating in the procession in violation of the government's notification regarding the coronavirus pandemic. We arrested 83 people in the last two days," the officer said.

A case was registered against the participants of the procession, including women, under the provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act, the Disaster Management Act, and under section 188 (disobedience to order duly issued by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code, he said.

A similar incident had occurred in Navapura village in Ahmedabad district of the state earlier this month wherein a large number of women turned up at a religious event to "eradicate coronavirus".

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)