Clarion India
NEW DELHI—The April 18 statement of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal about the 31 covid positive cases reported on April 17 from Jahangirpuri area turned out to be inaccurate. An investigation by Alt News, a fact checking news website, has revealed that 26 of the 31 cases did not belong to one family as stated by Kejriwal.
A fact-check report published by the website says the 26 patients that Kejriwal referred to do not belong to one family. Only six positive cases from the list of 31 belonged to one family and 13 patients are from the extended family of one of the positives. The family in question here has only 15 members. They live in block B of Jahangirpuri.
Following Kejriwal’s statement, numerous news outlets ran stories without verifying the claim of the CM. These included even respected news outlets like Scroll, The Indian Express and Free Press Journal. The coverage of the incident was sensational feeding the gristmills to fuel the vilification campaign against Muslim community as those 26 patients happened to be Muslim.
Rightwing social media users shared the news reports to target Muslim community with communal slurs accusing them of being responsible for the rapid spread of coronavirus. Using the blown up number some even brought up polygamy, a common stereotype about Indian Muslim, to further demonise the family and community. the investigation found that no one in the family is involved in polygamy.
Alt News confirmed from different sources that the 31 patients on the list do not belong to one family. Apart from a family member, three quarantined patients told Alt News that the patients in the list are from different families.
Additionally, municipal councillor Bagri also confirmed that the 31-member list does not include a 26-member family. “I’m not sure why CM Kejriwal felt the need to highlight the 26-member family despite the data collected shows no such family,” she told Alt News.
Kejriwal accused the family of being careless in not taking precaution which led to spread of coronavirus in Jahangirpuri Block B. The block was to be declared one of the containment zones on April 10 after Bibi was tested positive for coronavirus. Her son, Noor Mohammad, collected the report from RML Hospital on April 10, five days after Bibi died at the hospital.
The investigation found that all the 31 people were infected by coronavirus due to failure of the authorities at multiple levels instead of alleged carelessness of the family.
Mohammad said that despite symptoms the hospitals where she took her mom did not conduct coronavirus tests. She passed away on April 5. The hospital allowed the family to take her body just a couple of hours after she breathed her last. Next day around three dozen people attend the funeral of Bibi. Two of those are now positive.
“I can’t help but wonder, why did the hospital allow us to take her home if they were yet to confirm that she had contracted the infection,” Mohammad asked.
Poonam Ashwini Bagri, Jahangirpuri ward 21 municipal councillor, raised similar concerns. The Alt News report quotes her as asking why the hospital allowed the family to take the body. “On April 9, I received an official document which listed new COVID-19 positive cases – alive and deceased. As per this document, Ajiman Bibi’s coronavirus test report arrived on April 7. So, why did Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital allow Mohammed’s family to take Ajiman Bibi’s dead body on April 5? That has severely put my ward at risk.”