Pune: Stopped from entering village, woman ends life

PUNE: A 45-year-old woman died and her husband had to be hospitalised after they consumed a poisonous substance on Tuesday evening when they were denied entry into their village Umraj near Otur in Junnar taluka, around 110km from here. The village had been declared a Covid-19 containment zone after five people tested positive for the virus.
Police inspector Parshuram Kamble of the Otur police station told TOI that the couple sells vegetables in neighbouring villages in their tempo.“They visit different villages and markets and stay out of Umraj for a few days,” he said.
Kamble said that after the detection of the five positive cases, entry and exit roads in the village were sealed.
“The couple returned to the village in their tempo on Tuesday evening to find local gram panchayat officials and police guarding the entry point. The couple got into an argument with the policemen on duty. The police urged them to take an alternative route to reach their home but they refused,” he said.
Barred entry into village, woman ends her life
A senior police officer told TOI, “The man got a bottle containing the poisonous substance from the tempo and threatened to consume it if he was not allowed to travel on the road. When the bottle fell from his hand, his wife picked it up and drank from it. The man also drank from it.”
The villagers and police rushed the couple to a private hospital where the woman passed away, the police said.
“After Covid-19 cases were reported from the village, it was turned into a containment zone. Barricades were put at the entrance of the village to restrict entry,” said superintendent of police (Pune rural) Sandeep Patil. “The couple asked the police to remove the barricades to let them go home. They refused to take an alternative route and consumed a bottle of pesticide.”
Patil said the police did not use any force against the couple and kept requesting them to adhere to the norms. “We will conduct an impartial inquiry into the issue,” he said.