Dalit carries body on hand cart due to lack of hearse in MP town

A dalit carried his brother-in-law’s body on a hand cart through the city on Saturday for around 6 km in Sagar due to unavailability of a hearse, shocking the people who witnessed the incident, and saw the video that went viral in the social media. The district collector has ordered an inquiry.

Suresh Ahirwar said his brother-in-law Prakash Ahirwar (40) had been admitted to Bundelkhand Medical College due to a liver ailment, where he died on Friday night. Prakash earned his livelihood by transporting goods in his hand cart, and lived alone in Bhagwangunj area after his wife left him some years back.

“Some policemen at the hospital told me to take the body and as he had no one else, I took it to my house in Motinagar for the last rites. No one stopped me and no one offered any vehicle to me. I too push a hand cart and as I could not afford to hire a vehicle that would have cost at least Rs 500, I carried it on the hand cart.”

Suresh is so poor that he does not have money for last rites. “If I cannot collect the money, I will bury him,” Suresh said.

Bundelkhand Medical College dean Dr GS Patel said the hospital superintendent Dr Verma told him that no one had approached him for a hearse.

“The medical college has no hearse, but one vehicle is there with the district hospital and the Red Cross has three such vehicles which could have been arranged,” he said

Sagar collector A K Singh said he had asked the dean to inquire into the matter and take action if lapses were found.