Coronavirus: Tourists in India forced to write 'I am sorry' 500 times after breaching lockdown

Ten foreign tourists have been punished for flouting the coronavirus lockdown in India by being made to write out lines including “I am sorry” 500 times on pieces of paper.

Officers in the popular tourist destination of Rishikesh in northern India found the novel way to set an example when they came across a group of foreigners relaxing on the banks of the river Ganges, in violation of the rules.

“Police had been getting reports that some foreigners were defying the lockdown and coming to the [Ganges] to chill,” said Vinod Kumar, a senior policeman in the Tapovan area north of the city, known worldwide as the location of the ashram where The Beatles stayed in 1968 while writing the White Album.

Kumar told the Hindustan Times the 10 tourists, who included nationals of Australia, Israel, Austria and Mexico, had said they thought a daily relaxation of the lockdown from 7am to 1pm for people to go out and buy essential goods extended to allowing them to take a walk by the river.

The tourists were made to write “I did not follow the lockdown. I am sorry” 500 times. “After punishing them, I told them that it is a light one and if they refuse to do so then they will be blacklisted which will bar them from entering India again,” Kumar said.

The Uttarakhand state authorities say there are usually thousands of foreign tourists in Rishikesh at any given time of the year, most seeking yoga retreats or adventure sports on the river, and that some 1,500 were stranded when prime minister Narendra Modi declared a nationwide coronavirus lockdown on 24 March.

Another police officer, Vinod Sharma, told the AFP news agency that as many as 700 tourists were believed to have flouted the rules in Rishikesh. He said hotels were being approached by the police and told not to allow foreigners to step outside unless accompanied by local staff.

Police in India have found some eye-catching ways to raise awareness of coronavirus and the ensuing lockdown, including one officer who was widely photographed wearing a spiky “coronavirus-themed” bike helmet in Chennai.

But there have also been widespread accusations of heavy-handedness, with videos of people being beaten at highway checkpoints. Some lockdown breakers have been made to hop like frogs or perform squat exercises, while in Patna, Bihar, police are accused of shooting a truck driver in the foot.

A government source told The Independent that as of Monday, more than 30,000 foreign nationals have been flown back to more than 44 countries "from every nook and corner of [India]" since the national lockdown began.

It was unclear how many thousands of foreign tourists were still trapped in India, but the tourism ministry said it had helped almost 1,200 people move around within the country - for compelling reasons - via the portal strandedinindia.com.

The Uttarakhand authorities said hundreds of people have been helped return to their respective countries from the state, including 96 Americans who were flown out of Dehradun airport via Delhi in recent days.

Meanwhile, India was due to discover on Tuesday morning whether the three-week lockdown will be extended. With Mr Modi due to address the nation at 10am on the last of the 21 days of stay-home orders, it is widely expected that the measures will be continued, at least in most urban districts.

After a videoconference meeting on Saturday between Mr Modi and the chief ministers of all states, Delhi’s leader Arvind Kejriwal said the prime minister had taken the “correct decision” to extend the national lockdown, but there has been no confirmation of that outcome, or what an extension would look like.