Police ‘force’ grocery, medical storeowners shut down in Shahjahanpur

Bareilly: Even as people were expecting that grocery and medical stores would remain open during the ‘Janata Curfew’ on Sunday, police in Shahjahanpur allegedly made these store owners shut their outletsA senior police officer told TOI, “The department has been instructed to ensure complete shut down for the safety of locals as a large number of people, mainly labourers, are returning to their native place from Metro cities and screening everyone is not possible. In such a situation, the movement needs to be restricted.”Rameez Khan, owner of a medical store near the railway station, told TOI, “I opened my store considering people need medicines in emergency, but two policemen from Ashfaqnagar police outpost forced me to shut down my store. When I refused then they threatened to thrash me. They were extremely arrogant. The policemen said that they had clear instructions from their SHO to ensure that all shops were closed. ”Mahesh Gupta, a grocery shop owner in Jalalnagar locality, said Modi Ji said it was a ‘Janata Curfew’ and would not be forced upon the people, but the way policemen behaved “it appears that we are criminals. In this fight against coronavirus, we must ensure that residents’ get their daily needs fulfilled.”When asked about the matter, Shahjahanpur SSP Shivasimpi Channappa told TOI, “I have not instructed policemen to close the medical stores. My subordinates told me that medical store owners closed down voluntarily.”