Undertrial not allowed to see her husband’s body; son in jail too

Vadodara: In a cruel twist of fate, a woman undertrial in Vadodara Central Jail was denied a last glimpse of her dead husband before his last rites on Saturday. The couple’s only son too is serving a sentence in the same jail. The casual labourer from Wadhwana village in Dabhoi taluka died alone at his home on Saturday afternoon, as his wife and son are in jail on rape charges.
While the relatives of the deceased tried their best to help Rauji Rathodiya’s wife Leela and son Sukhdev see his mortal remains, and brought the body to the gate of Vadodara Central Jail, officials did not let them enter owing to lack of knowledge of legal procedures.
The villagers arrived at the jail with just an application seeking permission for the duo see the body. But the jail sentry turned down their request and asked them to leave immediately.
“We had a letter drafted by a lawyer requesting my aunt and cousin to see my uncle’s body. But the jail officials did not even accept the letter and asked us to leave,” said Rathodiya’s nephew Arjun.
He added that they waited at the jail gates from morning till evening and when nothing moved the jail officials, they took the body back to Wadhwana and performed the final rites.
A jail inmate can seek interim bail from a court to attend the funeral of his or her family member.
“The villagers had come with a rough application letter and so we had to turn them away. They did not follow any legal process,” explained jail superintendent V R Patel.