Family performing last rites of Covid patients falls prey to virus, yet continues to help

Throughout his weeklong stay in a Covid-19 ward in a Delhi hospital, in between temperature checks and nurse visits, Jitender Singh Shunty was constantly on the phone. The 58-year-old and his family — who have been ferrying bodies of Covid-19 patients to cremation ground and even performing their last rites — tested positive for the virus on June 27.
“But that didn’t mean that work had to stop. There are families that need help every day and the dead who need a dignified farewell,” Shunty, a former MLA from Shahdara, told TOI.
Shunty’s NGO, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sewa Dal, which has a team of 26 volunteers has transported over 250 Covid-19 patients in Delhi-NCR for their final rites since April. Shunty himself was on the wheel several times and cremated over 35 bodies.
Like that of a 75-year-old woman from Ramprastha Colony, Ghaziabad, who died on June 11 when her family was in quarantine. J Chakrabarty, the woman’s brother-in-law who hails from Chandigarh, had contacted Shunty for help. “We found comfort in the fact that she got cremated with all rituals,” he said.
Volunteers have ferried bodies of 250 Covid-19 patients to cremation grounds and performed last rites
Daljeet Kaur from Delhi’s Pratap Nagar also sought the non-profit’s help when her 74-year-old husband passed away from Covid-19 on June 22. “I was in home isolation and I couldn’t think of anybody else to approach,” she said.
A Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) inspector told TOI that a Covid-19-positive SSB jawan from Uttarakhand who died on June 14 at Vasant Kunj Indian Spinal Injury centre was also cremated by Shunty’s NGO since his family was in quarantine. And when Santosh Kumar from Rohini Sector 3 could not find an ambulance in time to take his 33-year-old daughter’s body to the mortuary and then to the cremation ground, the NGO stepped in.
“We also take bodies that lie unclaimed in hospitals as their families don’t want anything to do with them,” Shunty told TOI.
An official at the mortuary at Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Delhi, confirmed to TOI that they sought help from the NGO to send at least 150 bodies of Covid-19 patients to their homes or cremation grounds.
The NGO’s efforts have won it accolades from several district magistrates who have sent it letters of appreciation, including Shashi Kaushal, DM (North-East Delhi), who wrote to Shunty on June 6, lauding his initiative to provide “round the clock service in hospitals”.
Shahdara district magistrate Sanjeev Kumar told TOI that at least 40 bodies of Covid-19 patients were either ferried or cremated by Shunty’s family in the district since April. Arun Kumar Mishra, DM (Delhi-East), also added that the NGO has provided the district with a 24 x 7 ambulance.
Since April, the family have cremated many unclaimed bodies
The NGO — which has been operational since 1995, ferrying bodies for burial and helping families perform last rites when they can’t afford it — has added four more vans to its fleet of 12 during the pandemic since there was a major rise in families seeking their services.
We are getting anywhere between 15 to 20 calls per day, said Shunty, who was discharged from the hospital on July 7 along with his wife and two sons who had also tested positive. “While we were in home isolation, we continued to coordinate, receive phone calls from distressed families and keep track of locations of our vehicles,” said Shunty’s son Jyotjeet Singh.
According to the 26-year-old, the family of four wasn’t surprised when all of them tested positive. “Though bodies are handled as per protocol and we wear personal protective equipment (PPE), we knew what we were doing carried a certain amount of risk.”
But now that the family’s home quarantine period is almost over, the members said they don’t have to think twice about returning to ground work.
Shunty plans to resume work this week, despite the fact that he still gets out of breath and dizzy sometimes since he contracted the virus. “My doctor has told me that I can move out if I feel up to it. So I want to join my team. The more hands, the better,” he said.