Karnataka: Wife carries man's body on cart as kin refuse help

BELAGAVI: In a heart-wrenching sight in the middle of Athani town, a woman shifted the body of her husband on a push cart, with her son trailing behind, after relatives refused to help, fearing he had died of Covid-19.
A daily-wager joined the grim procession midway, offering to push the cart till the crematorium.
Sadashiv Hiratti, 55, is believed to have died at home on Wednesday night when his wife, son and daughter had gone on a family visit to neighbouring Chikkatti. Hiratti, a cobbler, was suffering from heart ailments and is suspected to have died of a heart attack. When Hiratti's wife and children arrived and got no response to repeated knocks, they got neighbours to break open the door and found him dead on a chair.
As news of the death spread, neighbours and relatives scrambled indoors, fearing he had died of Covid-19.
‘Neighbours did not offer any help’
Dayanand Wagmore, a local who visited the family later, said the woman had desperately sought help to carry the body to the crematorium but no one responded. She wrapped the body in a white cloth, laid it on a push cart and wheeled it from Siddhartha Nagar to the crematorium, 3-4km away. “Neighbours turned their backs, asking her to contact the health department. The entire town was seeing this shameful sight before their eyes but no one came to help,” said Wagmore.
He added that the woman was in shock when he spoke to her later. “She was crying inconsolably as no one cared to extend a helping hand,” Wagmore said.