Corona fear is slowly turning people violent in Bihar. Angry villagers are chasing away suspects and publicly assaulting them on the streets, suspecting they could be spreading the deadly virus in the society. At least two such incidents have been reported from Nalanda district in the past three days, raising concern over the changing attitude of the villagers.

In the latest incident, a youth identified as Loha Singh was badly assaulted with bamboo sticks by local villagers who suspected him to be a corona patient. The incident took place in the Khandakpur locality of Bihar police station on Sunday. As per the report, the youth had been frequently skipping the Corona test and fleeing from the hospital which angered the local villagers and they resorted to violence.

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A video of the incident which has gone viral on social media shows a man picking up a bamboo stick in hand and mercilessly assaulting the suspect. Such is the assault that the stick gets broken twice even as the suspect prays for mercy. Eventually, the police rushed to the spot and admitted the youth to the local Pawapuri Hospital where he tested negative for Covid. “The victim had been frequently fleeing from the hospital which angered the local villagers but assaulting him this way was totally unlawful,” the local Bihar police station in-charge Deepak Kumar said.

Another such incident was reported from Silao police station area on Saturday when a youth named Ramji Rai was badly beaten in a similar fashion for the same reason. According to the police, the victim is mentally unsound and was loitering around on the street but the people suspected him to be a Corona suspect and thrashed him badly. Timely action by the police saved him. “We have shifted the victim to his house in Vaishali after his treatment,” local Silao police station in-charge Manoj Kumar said.

That is not the end of the story. The scared residents have now begun socially boycotting even the cured Covid-19 patients apprehending that they may get infected with the virus if they go near them. One such incident has been reported from Siwan district. “Our neighbours are not ready to even look at us. They consider us as pariahs,” rued a family member of a cured Covid-19 patient.

The man worked in Dubai but when he reached his home last month shortly before the lockdown he was tested positive and admitted to the Nalanda Medical College and Hospital in Patna. The youth had been discharged from the hospital and is staying with his family but the mental outlook of his neighbours remains unchanged. “Only a coronavirus survivor and his family can understand the kind of stigma we have been facing,” he said.

Even more shocking details came from another area in the state where the neighbours refused to serve fodder to the cows when the dairy owner tested positive. Series of such incidents indicate how the general villagers have got scared of the Coronavirus and begun maintaining “emotional distancing”, instead of social distancing.