Four Delhi Police Constables lent their shoulders and helped a 66-year-old man with his wife’s last rites in south-east Delhi’s Jaitpur on Saturday, as neighbours kept away due to COVID-19 fears.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East) R.P. Meena said that Jaspal Singh, who is from Amritsar, approached Jaitpur police station around 10 a.m. and told them that his wife Sudha Kashyap had passed away and none of his neighbours were willing to help carry the body. Mr. Singh, a labourer, has a 26-year-old differently abled son.
Mr. Singh told the police that his wife had been bed-ridden since November. On Friday, Sudha had her dinner and went to bed. In the morning, when Mr. Singh went to check on her, he found she had passed away.
Unable to get any assistance from neighbours, Mr. Singh went to the police station where Constables Sunil, Parveen, Dharmendra, and Rahul volunteered to help.
They made all the arrangements for the last rites and three of the officers, along with Mr. Singh, carried the body to the cremation ground over a km away.
Constable Sunil said that the neighbours stayed away as they were not certain of the cause of death.
“They did not know whether she had COVID-19 or not. People think all sorts of things these days,” he said, adding that when everyone refused to help Mr. Singh, they had to step in.
“We had to do something. He came to us seeking help. We are taking all precautions ourselves too. We arranged a pier, called a priest and three of us [along with Mr. Singh] carried the body to the cremation ground,” he added.