Kanika Kapoor denies claims of negligence, accuses hospital of harassment

An FIR (first infomation report) has been lodged against singer Kanika Kapoor for alleged negligence in the wake of the growing coronavirus pandemic.

It has been alleged that the singer did not go into self-quarantine after returning from London, England, earlier this month and did not get screened at the airport. Moreover, she attended as many as three parties on her return.

Kapoor informed everyone that she had tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) on Friday, 21 March. 

Kapoor, however, has denied all such claims. Speaking to The Times of India newspaper, she said, “I want to tell people that I'm not the irresponsible person I'm being made to look like.” 

Kapoor was accused by a few journalists of skipping screening at the airport by hiding in the washroom. Reacting to this, she said, “Tell me, how is it possible for a person to skip screening at immigration while coming on an international flight? I was properly screened at Mumbai airport and stayed in the city for a day. But since everything was closed and no work was happening, my parents suggested I come home.”

The singer claimed that there were no instructions for citizens regarding coronavirus when she reached her hometown Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. “So I reached Lucknow on 11 March by the morning flight. And one can check that at that time there was no advisory issued by the government on anyone travelling from abroad to be under self-quarantine. So how can one expect me to do it, especially when I had been screened and had no health issues till I left Mumbai? In fact, I developed the symptoms only four days ago,” she said.

Kapoor added, “I came to Lucknow and met people. In fact, I have told the health department that I will give them a list of people I have been in contact with. Apart from those I met in the past few days, I am concerned about my nani [maternal grandmother], who's 98 and lives in Kanpur. She really wanted to meet me, so I went to Kanpur for a day to be with her.” 

There have also been allegations of Kapoor throwing a party with a large number of guests. She rubbished these claims. “I never hosted a party. I attended a small birthday bash, which [former Rajasthan chief minister] Vasundhara Rajeji has also tweeted about. There were several politicians there, including [Raje's son and member of Parliament] Dushyant Singh, but it wasn't as big a gathering as is being made out. It was a small one where I was a guest, not the hostess. For this, too, I have given the health officials the names of all those who were at the party,” said the singer. 

Kapoor said it was she who had pleaded with the health officials to test her after they told her that she does not seem to have been affected by the virus. “I was the one who pestered the authorities, who I felt were taking things lightly. It took them three days to send someone to collect my sample and test it. From Monday till then, I had confined myself to my room. The moment I felt sick, I called up the authorities. So tell me, who has been lax?”

In the same interview, Kapoor alleged that she wasn’t given food to eat in the Lucknow hospital where she was kept and that her room had flies and was dirty. She also said that when she asked a doctor to have the room cleaned, he rudely retorted that it was not a five-star hotel. “I am being ill-treated here and it feels like I’m in jail," she said. "They are behaving as if I am a criminal for no fault of mine.”