KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 ― Following a sudden 21-day “total lockdown” announcement by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country seems to be tightening its measures to keep its 1.3 billion population stay at home.

In various viral videos, police officers in India are seen using excessive force to send home those roaming on the streets.

 

The marshals are also seen beating up those breaking the lockdown rules with wooden sticks ― making it the most severe step taken anywhere in the war against the Covid-19.

 

Yesterday, Modi announced in a national television address to the world’s second most-populated nation that the country would be imposing a three-week total ban on Indians venturing outside their homes to combat the spread of Covid-19 in India.

The country has so far recorded 536 confirmed cases of the disease and 10 deaths.

The strict shutdown, which came into effect last night, has seen police officers taking the most sweeping actions after many people were still spotted jostling with each other on the street and crowding into public buses despite multiple warnings by the government.

 

Apart from physical assaults, Reuters reported that the police in India’s northern city of Meerut are making unruly citizens hold up signs reading, “I am a friend of coronavirus,” or “I am the enemy of society,” before posting the photos on Twitter to shame them.

The official Twitter account of Meerut police is filled with pictures of rowdy citizens holding up sarcastic notices with comments in Hindi that read “I don’t believe in the law of the country” and “I don’t care about my family or society.”