LAHORE: The police raided the noted fashion designer Maria B’s residence late on Monday and arrested her husband, Tahir Saeed, for allegedly helping their coronavirus servant flee Lahore. Later, he was released.

According to the first information report, their servant was tested positive for coronavirus, but Mr Saeed, the owner of the brand, sent him to his native village in Vehari through a bus. He changed two buses to arrive at the destination putting all so many people at risk during the journey.

Maria B, however, in a video message which went viral online, addressed Prime Minister Imran Khan that last night (late on Monday) her house was raided by policemen as if she was the biggest drug mafia don in Lahore. She said the police arrested her husband “without any reason and my family was treated like criminals”.

“We are the ones who are suffering the pain. Is this the system we have in Punjab?” she asked.

Later, in another video message, both Maria B and Mr Saeed said the police raid was unjustified as they did not do any criminal act.

They said after the lab report, which declared their chef positive for the virus, they quarantined him in the servant quarter. Later, the servant asked them to send him to Vehari and they arranged a separate vehicle for him. They said, in fact, their chef had contracted virus while coming to Lahore from Vehari in a bus.

They said after symptoms, they got the chef tested for the virus, and after his report, the whole family got their tests done, and all of them were negative.

During this, they were contacted by more than five government departments to know the whereabouts of their servant and they shared his credentials with all of them. They criticised the police for breaching on property and putting them at risk of the virus.The couple thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan for helping them.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2020