An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer has been booked and suspended from duty after he travelled from Kerala to his home in Uttar Pradesh despite being asked to stay in quarantine for 14 days.
The IAS officer Anupam Mishra who was working as the sub-collector in Kerala’s Kollam district was under quarantine since March 19 following his return from a trip in Singapore.
However, he was found missing from his home in Kerala by a village-level monitoring team this week.
He was eventually traced through his mobile phone to Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said his act has brought disgrace to the State.
As per The News Minute report, Mishra has been booked under sections 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (Negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 270 (Malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 271 (Disobedience to quarantine law) of the Indian Penal Code.
Mishra later justified his actions to his superiors by saying that he mistook home quarantine as a directive to go back home to his native state.
He also claimed that he was also in Bengaluru observing the quarantine at a relative’s house.