Lockdown: With personnel on roads and drones in sky, Noida Police checks group prayers

 No group prayers were held across Noida and Greater Noida on Friday amid the lockdown due to COVID-19, even as police deployed drones along with personnel on ground to check any violation of curbs, officials said.

On Thursday, several Islamic clerics had appealed to the people to not gather at their local mosques for prayers and pray at their homes in view of CrPC Section 144 being imposed to prevent the coronavirus from spreading and practice social distancing.

"According to the instructions of Commissioner of Police Alok Singh, drones were flown at several places in Dadri today and to check if people have gathered on the terrace of their houses, in the streets, or anywhere in the field? If there was any group namaaz or bhajan kirtan being done, but everything was found to be normal," Deputy Commissioner of Police Greater Noida Rajesh Singh said.

He added that police personnel were on patrolling duty and appealed to the people to stay indoors, ensuring "complete success" of the lockdown.

Similarly in Noida, drones were hovering in the sky and police personnel on the ground to monitor the situation, according to officials, who said no incident of lockdown violation was reported anywhere.

Police had on Thursday arrested 10 people in Noida's Sector 16, a day after a video surfaced online purportedly showing them gathering on the terrace of a house for a group namaaz, in violation of the current restrictions on assembly of people imposed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 had announced a 21-day country-wide lockdown aimed at combating the coronavirus pandemic, which has so far claimed thousands of lives across the world.

Gautam Buddh Nagar adjoining Delhi in western Uttar Pradesh has so far recorded 50 positive cases of coronavirus, the highest for any district in the state so far, according to official figures.