Row after body is taken on cart for cremation

SURAT: There was a controversy after some volunteers decided to take an unidentified body for cremation on a stretcher fixed to a pulling cart three kilometres away in Navsari on Saturday. The hearse was not available and therefore the body of a 50-year-old unidentified man had to be taken to crematorium on a pulling cart, the police said.
The body was found on railway tracks near Navsari railway station three days ago and taken for postmortem in Navsari Civil Hospital. Since no family members turned up, the body was kept in the morgue as per the procedure for some time and then taken for cremation by the police. However, the crude manner of the volunteers under the watch of the police created a controversy.

"There was no hearse available to take the body to the crematorium and so the volunteers of a non-governmental organization and labourers took it on a pulling cart all the while ensuring utmost respect to the departed soul. The expenses for the last rites are given by the police. We will see such a thing does not happen again," police sub-inspector, Valsad railway police station, G S Patel said.