Rats nibble farmer’s body kept at mortuary in Sonipat

The body of a 72-year-old farmer, who died of heart attack at Singhu border, was allegedly gnawed at by rats at the mortuary of a hospital in Haryana’s Sonipat district, prompting the authorities to order a probe.

Rajender Soraha, a resident of Baiyanpur village in Sonipat, was a regular at the border protest site and had been camping there for the last four days, his son Pradeep said. Pradeep said his father complained of chest pain Wednesday night and was rushed to the General Hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival. The body was shifted to the mortuary.

“His body was kept in a freezer at the mortuary of the hospital. When we went to take the body for the post mortem examination on Thursday morning, we spotted there were three big bite marks with blood oozing out,” said Pradeep.

Accusing the authorities of grave negligence, the family members and locals started protesting at the hospital following which Sonipat’s Principal Medical Officer Dr Jai Bhagwan and Civil Surgeon Dr Jaswant Singh Poonia reached the spot and pacified them.

“A committee of three doctors has been constituted to find out how the incident took place and to identify people who were negligent in performing their duties that led to this. Once the committee gives its report, suitable action shall be taken,” said Dr Jai Bhagwan.

The team, comprising Deputy Medical Superintendents Ginni Lamba, Sandeep Lathwal and Senior Medical Officer Sushil Jain, will record statements of all the personnel who were on duty at the mortuary.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala condemned the incident describing it as “shocking”. Targeting both the central and the state government, Surjewala, in a tweet, said while the rodents are nibbling at farmer’s body, “the BJP governments remain a mute spectator”.