In a bizarre development, a young man in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi has invited a criminal case for asking oxygen for his ailing grandfather. His efforts to save his grandfather have gone vain and his appeal to get an oxygen cylinder had slapped him with criminal charges including circulating a rumour. The dreadful precedent was made possible by the Yogi Adityanath government which thought that the young man should not go unpunished and booked under the series of charges which could award imprisonment. 

The development has come two days after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asked officials to take action against anti-social elements who spread rumours and propaganda on social media and try to spoil the atmosphere. So what happened and why the ruling BJP government has got an awful spotlight? A young man named Shashank Yadav of Amethi had earlier this week appealed for help to provide him with an oxygen cylinder for his ailing grandfather. His appeal has come amid the dearth of oxygen supply in treating the Corona patients and the patients who were ailing for other ailments. 

On Monday evening, Shashank Yadav had tagged actor Sonu Sood in his tweet and said, "Need oxygen cylinder asap @SonuSood. Plz sir." Yadav however hadn't provided further information and he didn't divulge whether his grandfather tested positive for the COVID-19 viral infection. Hours after his tweet, one of Yadav's friends Ankit had retweeted Yadav's appeal for oxygen and he also had sent a direct message to journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani, who is the senior editor of The Wire. 

In his message, Ankit said, "Afra ma'am, could you pls share this (Yadav's appeal). Can save my friend's Nanaji's life. Urgently required oxygen cylinder in Amethi for my Nanaji. Please help. Contact (number) (Shashank)". After receiving Ankit's message, Arfa had tweeted Yadav's appeal to help with an oxygen cylinder and in subsequent tweets, Afra had even tagged Union Minister Smriti Irani, who is the MP from Amethi, and she also had tagged a leader of the Samajwadi party to supply oxygen for Yadav's grandfather. 

Irani had promptly responded to the tweet and she said that she called Shashank thrice, but no response. The Union Minister further said that she had alerted the office of District Magistrate Amethi and Amethi police to find and help the person in need. While the efforts were underway to get oxygen, Ankit, who sent a message to Arfa about the need for oxygen has sent another message to her at around 12.44 am on Tuesday and said that Yadav's grandfather had passed away. Ankit said, "Thank you for sharing ma'am. Means a lot to all of us. Shashank's Nanaji is no more. He had difficulty in breathing." 

After learning that Shashank's grandfather had breathed his last, Arfa had informed the demise of the grandfather to Union Minister Irani for which the Union Minister replied, "Kept calling his (Shashank's) number, we all did including the CMO (Chief Minister's Office), Amethi Police. I just wish he had picked up his phone. My condolences." Ankit had also thanked the Union Minister for reaching out to the family. Efforts were made to get oxygen and they had eventually failed as Shashank's grandfather had passed away. It could have ended here, but it didn't and in fact, the problem started after the demise of the grandfather. 

While Shashank's grandfather had demised in the wee hours of Tuesday, the Amethi District Magistrate had tweeted the Amethi Chief Medical Officer's report in a reply to Arfa's post in the noon hours of Tuesday. The report said that the man (Shashank's grandfather) was not suffering from COVID-19 and had been undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Durgapur. As Shashank and Ankit hadn't divulged that the oxygen was needed for a Corona patient, the Amethi police had kept their focus on this factor to advocate that the two had broken the law in some way. 

It was in fact a mixture of surprise and shock that the police had assumed that only Corona patients need oxygen and they found a fault in the young men's failure of disclosing what's the ailment of Shashank's grandfather. The police officials had made up their minds and went ahead to take action against the young men. On Tuesday evening, Amethi Police tweeted a reply to Arfa's and Yadav's messages and said that Shashank's grandfather wasn't suffering from the COVID-19 and he did not have a prescription for oxygen and he had died of a heart attack. 

The police officials had greatly come to the conclusion that spreading these kinds of rumours is not just condemnable but a criminal offence. The police had said that they had registered a case under sections 188, 269, and 505 (1)(b) of the Indian Penal Code, along with Section 3 of the Epidemic Act and Section 54 of the Disaster Management Act. The charges against Yadav are serious and could put him in prison if the police go ahead with the case and if the charges warrant a conviction. 

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has warned the people that they would be booked under the National Security Act and their properties would be seized if they were found to be spreading rumours over the oxygen supply in the state. Amid the reports of the dearth of oxygen in the state, he has asserted that there was no shortage of oxygen and his National Security Act threat was seen as his bid to choke the voices against his government over his handling of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent incident of booking a case against Yadav had shown that Yogi's government is not even ready to tolerate a single tweet that speaks about the shortage and need for oxygen.