Tribal man walks to bus stand holding son's body as hearse driver demands bribe in Odisha

BARIPADA: In a rerun of the sordid story of Dana Majhi who walked around 10 km shouldering the body of his wife, a tribal man from Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district was forced to carry his deceased son to a bus stand after he was unable to pay an alleged bribe to a hearse driver on Saturday.

Despite there being provisions for transporting bodies from state-run hospitals after the infamous incident, Bajun Soren (57) of Kalagini village under Chandua police limits was allegedly denied the facility at Pandit Rathunath Murmu Government Medical College and Hospital (MCH), Baripada.

Bajun said the driver of Swarga Rath, a hearse at the hospital demanded Rs 400 to transport the body. Since they had no alternative for carrying the body “we decided to walk up to the bus stand and catch a bus to our destination,” a desperate Bajun said.

Bajun’s three-year-old son Jogeswar died while undergoing treatment at the MCH. “Jogeswar fell unconscious when he was playing with his friends on Friday. We immediately brought him to the hospital. He succumbed at about 12.30 am. Insisting that no autopsy is required, doctors suggested taking the body. Since it was night, we waited till morning,” he said.

Locals spotted him when he was going towards Baripada bus stand carrying his son’s body. He was accompanied by his wife and five-year-old daughter. They arranged an ambulance and sent them to their village. However, by then he had already walked around 1.5 km from the hospital.

Even as the state government has launched Mahaprayan scheme offering free hearse service from state-run hospitals and directed all hospitals not to allow the bodies to leave hospitals without proper verification, such incidents continue to make headlines.