On Monday, Police said that a man was arrested for evicting 6 tenants who were under home quarantine in outer Delhi’s Nangloi, after they came in contact with a Covid-19 patient, for not paying their rent.
While the Police are yet to contact the evicted men, all of whom are daily wage workers, an investigator said they have reached their village in Bihar’s Bhojpur district, after hiring a private vehicle.
The landlord, Sona Lal (41), was booked under IPC's Section 188 (disobedience to order promulgated by a public servant) & the Disaster Management Act’s Section 51 (refusal to comply with government’s directions), according to A Koan, Deputy Commissioner of Police (outer district).
Deputy Commissioner of Police said that “In the first week of May, two of these workers had visited Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital to meet a friend who had fallen. That man was later tested positive for Covid-19".
Koan said that “The two men & the four others they lived with were put under home quarantine".
He said that they were put under home quarantine from May 11 to May 25 on the orders of the Punjabi Bagh sub-divisional magistrate.
He said that “On Friday evening, when a constable visited them to ensure they were complying with quarantine norms, he found the six men were missing".
“We booked & arrested the landlord after we were informed that he had evicted the six men,” Koan added.
The officer said neighbours & residents of the area said the men were evicted for not paying rent.
An officer involved in the investigation said Sona Lal denied the claims, & said the six sneaked out of the house on Wednesday without informing him.
“While we continue to probe his claims, why would the tenants sneak out when only five days of their quarantine remained? If that was the case, the owner of the house should have alerted us,” the investigator said.
In April, an order by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority had called for “strict compliance” of directions that landlords will not demand rent from migrant workers & students for a month. It required respective district magistrates to spread awareness about this directive and, in case of non-compliance, take legal action.
Last week, the High Court of Delhi, had ordered that while tenants would be liable to pay rent for the period the city has been under lockdown, the payments could be postponed owing to the circumstances.
If convicted under the Indian Penal Code’s Section 188, Lal could be jailed for a month, be fined Rs 200,or both. If he is found guilty under the Disaster Management Act, he could face between one or two years in prison.
Since the lockdown, there have been multiple instances of confrontations between house owners & tenants over rent payments. The police have also booked several landlords for evicting their tenants or forcing them to pay rent during the lockdown.
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