The impact of long lockdown on the poor is slowly coming to the fore. A poor family residing in the Bhagalpur district of Bihar buried the body of a kin in the courtyard of their house since they had no money to cremate him.
As per the report, Guddu Mandal had been suffering from epilepsy for some time but on Friday night, he suffered serious attacks.
He died soon thereafter. The poor family living in a hut near a railway colony soon came in a state of shock. The family which had been battling for survival had no money to cremate the dead body.
So, they dug out a grave in the courtyard of the home and buried the body.
The entire story came to light when the grieving family rushed to the houses of neighbours to seek salt in large quantities.
Reports said before burying, the grieving family had covered the body in a blanket and put two kilograms of salt over it to ensure the body rots soon. Subsequently, the local villagers informed the police which rushed to the spot and dug out the body from the grave. The body was later sent for a post-mortem. After conducting the basic legal formalities, the body was finally cremated at the local cremation centre with help from the villagers and the police.
“The family said they had been facing troubles in cremating the body due to lockdown and hence buried it in their homes,” Ishachak police station in-charge SK Sudhanshu said this to a reporter on a phone call.
He said the local villagers gave contributions to help him cremate the body and have also promised to offer further financial help to conduct his shardh karm.
According to villagers, the family had been surviving working as daily wagers but the lockdown left them jobless.