Woman from Andhra's Guntur miscarries in 44-day quarantine in UP

GUNTUR: Sk Rizwana Begum and her husband Mohammad Rafi are among 10 persons from Ponugupadu in Phirangipuram mandal, Guntur district who had gone to Uttar Pradesh as part of a religious congregation tour a couple of months ago.  

However, Rizwana’s dreams of becoming a mother came crashing down after she suffered a miscarriage at a quarantine camp on May 9. All the 10 persons are finally on their way home after they were given requisite permission by the authorities concerned. 

On April 3, Rizwana and the rest of the group were picked up by police in Mehmoodnagar, Lucknow and lodged in a temporary jail after the state witnessed a sharp spike in the coronavirus cases and enforcement of a lockdown. Cases under sections 188, 269 and 270 of the IPC and section 3 of the Epidemics Act were booked against them. 

After testing negative four times at GCRG Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow, the group was shifted to Shri Rameswaroop College of Engineering and Management where it was quarantined for 44 days. The members, however, were able to communicate their plight to Phirangipuram local leader Kolli Siva Reddy, who then wrote to Guntur and Lucknow administrations to facilitate the Guntur natives’ return. 

Siva Reddy told TNIE that he had written to the authorities many a times, but no action was taken until he took up the issue with Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy. He said the UP administration treated the Guntur natives badly and had locked them in the second floor of the temporary jail.  “The group was passed on food through a basket tied to a rope. They shouted for help when Rizwana was in pain in the middle of a night, but she was not taken to any hospital,” he alleged.