Mumbai, Jan 20 (PTI) A magistrate court here has convicted five persons, including two college students, for violating norms related to coronavirus-induced lockdown in Mumbai and sentenced them to imprisonment till rising of the court, according to orders made available on Wednesday.

The judgements in the separate cases, related to lockdown period in April and June, were delivered last week, but orders were made available on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Metropolitan Magistrate A V Kulkarni found them guilty of offences committed under relevant provisions of the National DisasterManagement Act, which was invoked following the COVID-19 outbreak earlier last year.

The accused had voluntarily pleaded guilty by admitting to offences and were sentenced to imprisonment until rising of the court.

The court also directed them to pay a fine of Rs 1,000 each.

"Rising of the court refers to a sentence for which the guilty is detained in a courtroom and made to sit for hours till the proceeding ends.

Among those convicted was one Sagar Shyamlal Thakur, who works as a housekeeper in a private company in South Mumbai.

Thakur submitted before the court that he was heading towards a mall in the area to bring food on the day of the incident.

Another accused, identified only as Dharmendra, told the court he had stepped out to bring garland to decorate an idol of a deity on the occasion of a religious festival.

A nationwide lockdown was imposed in March-end to curb the spread of coronavirus.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)