"We won’t wear masks, what will you do?"
An Indian couple was arrested after they ignored Covid-19 rules and verbally abused officers who confronted them.
The couple had been driving through Delhi’s Daryaganj area at around 4 pm on April 18, 2021, when they were seen without face masks.
Due to the surge in cases, the Delhi High Court made face masks mandatory even if a person is driving alone in their vehicle.
The court stated that it is still in a public place.
Police officers approached the couple, however, they then started arguing.
The couple, identified as Abha Gupta and Pankaj Dutta, shouted at the officers and said they would not wear face masks.
A video of the exchange circulated. In the video, the couple is heard saying:
“We won’t wear masks, what will you do?”
Abha then told officers that she did not see the need to wear a mask inside a car before bizarrely saying that what if she wanted to kiss her husband.
She said: “Why should I wear a mask in my car? What if I have to kiss my husband?”
Officers repeatedly told the Indian couple that the High Court order states that even if a person is in a car, he/she still has to wear a face mask.
As a result, the Indian couple were arrested. An FIR under various sections of the Indian Penal Code was registered against them.
The video left people angry, with many saying that India is experiencing a terrible second wave of the virus because of such people.
The Indian couple later made strange excuses for refusing to wear face masks.
Pankaj claimed that it was his wife who was not “allowing” him to wear his mask. He said that always wears a mask whenever his wife is not around.
Meanwhile, Abha said she felt suffocated when wearing a mask.
She then said that she did not know that she needed to wear a mask inside the car since she was with her husband.
#WATCH | A couple misbehaved with Delhi Police personnel in Daryaganj area earlier today after they were stopped & asked the reason for not wearing face masks.
"An FIR under various sections of IPC has been lodged against them," say police.
(Video source – Delhi Police) pic.twitter.com/hv1rMln3CU
— ANI (@ANI) April 18, 2021
The couple did not have mandatory curfew passes that were required for going outdoors on the weekend.
Due to the Covid-19 crisis, Delhi entered a week-long lockdown in a bid to reduce Covid-19 infections as well as to save the collapsing health infrastructure.
On April 18, 2021, Delhi saw 25,000 new infections and 161 deaths.
As well as a week-long total lockdown, a weekend curfew will remain in place until April 30, 2021, at the earliest.