Caught on camera: UP doc calls Islamic sect members 'terrorists'

In a video make rounds on social media on Monday (June 1), a top doctor from Uttar Pradesh, has been caught on camera allegedly referring to the members of “Tablighi Jamaat” as terrorists who should be sent to jail or ‘jungles and dungeons’ rather than getting treatment for coronavirus in hospitals.

As per a report in NDTV, Aarti Lalchandani, the principal of Kanpur’s Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Medical College, was seen in a five-minute video sting, reportedly shot by a city journalist around April, in which she is speaking against the members of the Islamic sect and allegedly, the Muslim community as a whole.

Assalamualsikum wa rahmatullahi wa barkatuhu.
See brother what the thinking of a Doctor of UP,India
She saying Muslims are terrorist jamati are terrorist they does't diserv treatment they should be in jail or jungle and one of them saying why not give them injection of passion. pic.twitter.com/7FVAv00zO0

— Mahmood Ali (@preenali28) June 1, 2020

The video was shot around the same time when few of the hospital staff went on record to allege inappropriate behaviour by members of the religious group, who attended a mass congregation in New Delhi’s Nizamuddin in March and gave rise to the biggest COVID-19 cluster in the country.

The hospital administration alleged that Tablighi Jamaat members were quarantined at the premises were prone to spitting randomly and “breaking all norms of social distancing.”

“We are giving VIP treatment to terrorists, so many doctors are in quarantine because of them. The Chief Minister (Yogi Adityanath) is following a policy of appeasement by admitting these people to hospital. They should be jailed,” the woman, apparently recognised as Dr Lalchandani, said in the video.

“Send them to jungles, throw them in dungeons. Because of these 30 crores, 100 crores are suffering. There is a financial emergency because of them,” she further ranted.

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As soon as the video went viral, Dr. Lalchandani issued a statement claiming that the sting clip was morphed.

“At the time my statements were taken under pressure and this recording is a sting done by superimposition, morphing and some people have tried to disturb the peace here. I did not take any community’s name but I am particularly fond of that community and I could give my life for them,” the doctor said.

Calling out the language used in the video as unconstitutional, Kanpur-based activist and former MP Subhashini Ali said, “This is unconstitutional and uncalled for language.”

“This video should be investigated and if it is found to be genuine, there should be a case against her,” the CPI(M) Politburo member said.