Coronavirus Pandemic In India Has Seen Hate Crimes And Stigmatization

By Debdutta Ghosh

It started with stigmatizing of Chinese looking people in Kolkata and later spread throughout the country – with people being suspected to having been infected by the coronavirus, being discriminated against for fear of catching Covid-19 – the disease caused by the virus, or simply stereotyping them.

According to a report published in the India Today in late March, Indian citizens of Chinese origin in Kolkata were at the receiving end of racial discrimination and slurs over the growing panic over the Covid-19 pandemic because it has started in China. The report quoted 41 year old Francis Yee Lepcha – whose grandfather had migrated from China decades ago, saying that he had to endure glares and cold stares since the outbreak of the epidemic in the Kolkata – the city where he was born and lived all of his life.

This trend spread very past across India with people now targeting other Indians who were suspected to have been infected by the virus.

The Indian Airlines filed an official complaint with the Union Home Ministry alleging that its employees were being stigmatized by people in the localities where they lived. In the complaint letter, the national carrier which was involved in conducting risky missions of Indians stranded in coronavirus hotspots such as Iran, Germany, Spain and Italy, alleged that many of its employees were ostracized by vigilante Resident Welfare Associations and neighbours

In Delhi, police arrested a man for allegedly calling a woman “coronavirus” after he had spit ‘paan’ on her face. The woman has filed a police complaint alleging that the discriminatory remarks made by the man. The man was arrested under Section 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which deals with the crime of using words, gestures or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.

In another incident in Delhi, a man named Rakesh K. complained of being stigmatized by people in the apartment where he lives along with his family, after he returned from Saudi Arabia, screened and given a clearance at the Delhi airport and went into voluntary self-isolation along with his wife. He did not have any symptoms of flu or discomfort. His troubles started after one of the resident of the apartment put out an anonymous message on a chat group about his quarantine.

“The snides were apparent, the oblique messages were tough to deal with. Some called out my name that I am a corona positive case without realizing the magnitude of what they are talking about. Few even asked their house helps to keep an eye on our movements… Am I getting stigmatized, are they going to push me out of my own home …I started getting worried… I could not sleep that night,” Rakesh told the media.

The Indian Airlines filed an official complaint with the Union Home Ministry alleging that its employees were being stigmatized by people in the localities where they lived. In the complaint letter, the national carrier which was involved in conducting risky missions of Indians stranded in coronavirus hotspots such as Iran, Germany, Spain and Italy, alleged that many of its employees were ostracized by vigilante Resident Welfare Associations and neighbours. In some incidents the police were even called in by neighbors just because the crew had travelled abroad in the course of their duty.

In Delhi, Assam and several other states, doctors and other health workers working on the frontline in hospital against the coronavirus have also faced stigmatization and ostracizaiton in the society. In a recent move, the Assam government ordered the police to file a criminal case against landlords who ask doctors and paramedic staff fighting the Covid-19 outbreak to vacate their homes. Similar threats had to be issued by the Delhi chief minister too.

Additionally, there have also been troubling reports of suspected Vobid-19 patients running away from quarantine over fears of social stigma – threatening to spread of the disease to the very people who stigmatize them. In one such incident in Navi Mumbai, 11 patients fled form a hospital where they were quarantined on suspected coronavirus infection over their fears of being stigmatized in the society.