Neighbours abuse Chennai woman after she recovers from Covid-19. Cops, officials come to rescue – India Today

The last few days have been the most heartbreaking for a 55-year-old woman in Chennai. It was only a few days back when she recovered from Covid-19 and was discharged from a hospital. Home is where she had hoped to return. She did return there, but something had changed.

Her neighbours.

The woman, whose 68-year-old husband is still battling Covid-19 at a hospital, lives in a rented apartment. For the last few days, her neighbours have been passing hateful communal slurs at her. Social ostracisation, her brother says has become common. The reason? Her religion.

Her husband has tested negative for Covid-19 now but he is still very weak and is recovering.

Recently after returning home, the woman stepped out to dry her clothes in her apartment’s terrace. That was one of the instances when her neighbours passed verbal abuses and communal slurs at her.

Her brother AJ Jawad, a lawyer, tells India Today TV that he was shocked when his sister told him what happened. He immediately informed the local corporation officials and the police about it.

“I’m extremely grateful to the local sanitary inspector. She helped my sister immediately and even got her essentials supplies. The Chennai City Police Commissioner AK Vishwanathan called us personally,” he said, adding that after hearing about the matter, the city’s assistant commissioner went and checked on his sister and spoke to her neighbours.

“This has been very reassuring,” said Jawad.

He said even though his sister and brother-in-law did not participate in any Tablighi Jamaat event, her neighbours were abusing her by calling her a Tablighi.

“We don’t know how they contracted the disease,” he said.

Narrating his sister’s plight, Jawad said her neighbours recently called up the fire department and made them spray water all over the apartment.

“They also mistreated my sister’s house owner. He was asked to stay indoors and is not allowed to come out even though he and his family members have tested negative for Covid-19. Their family too is being ostracised. He sends his son late night to buy essentials items. They are literally locked up in their house for the past 20 days,” Jawad claimed.

Jawad’s sister and brother-in-law tested positive for Covid-19 in the last week of March. Jawad’s sister was discharged on Wednesday, while her husband is still undergoing treatment.

In a Facebook post about her sister’s experiences, Jawad said: “I request all of you to circulate this message. Not for my sister’s sake but for the sake of those who have suffered this disease and those who are sacrificing their lives for the sick and the dying. This madness has to stop. Who knows? One day each one of us may be facing this situation.”

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