Police step in to perform funerals of those living alone or those with relatives living far away

When an army lieutenant colonel, posted in Leh, called up the Delhi Police seeking help with the cremation of his father-in-law, who had lived in Dwarka and had succumbed to Covid-19 on Saturday, a team of policemen came forward to perform the last rites of the elderly man

When an army lieutenant colonel, posted in Leh, called up the Delhi Police seeking help with the cremation of his father-in-law, who had lived in Dwarka and had succumbed to Covid-19 on Saturday, a team of policemen came forward to perform the last rites of the elderly man. A police team, in PPE kits, collected the body and took it to the cremation ground where it was cremated as per the Hindu rituals.

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With entire families contracting Covid-19, they are unable to make the funeral arrangements for the deceased in their families; leaving the police with no option but to shoulder the responsibility of arranging these funerals. Police have also made the funeral arrangements of those who had lived alone or when families back out of the responsibility for fear of the virus.

In two similar cases reported on Saturday, police cremated a woman on her brother’s request in Dwarka while in Karol Bagh, they made arrangements for the cremation of an elderly couple who had died of Covid-19.

Talking about the army officer’s relative, deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka) Santosh Kumar Meena said they had received a call on Saturday, around 3pm, from lieutenant colonel Soumen Mondal that his father-in-law, who lived in Dwarka, had died of Covid-19.

“Mondal said since his father-in-law had Covid, no one was willing to help them with the cremation. Mondal expressed his inability to come to Delhi at such short notice. On his request, the personnel from the Dwarka North police station made arrangements for the cremation of Mondal’s father-in-law Biswanath Pramanik. We arranged everything and the last rites were performed as per the rituals,” Meena said.

The DCP said the same evening, a team of policemen from Dwarka South police station cremated a woman on her brother’s request.

“We received another call later that day reporting that a woman, Jai Matnani, who had tested positive for Covid had succumbed to the virus during treatment. The caller was her brother. He said there was nobody to take the responsibility of her cremation. Therefore on humanitarian grounds, we took over that responsibility and her body was immediately shifted to a cremation ground in Dwarka’s Sector 24 and she was cremated as per the Hindu rituals,” the DCP said.

In another such case reported from Karol Bagh, a Delhi police team cremated a man and his wife who had died of Covid within just three days of each other.

According to the police, on April 21, information was received that an 84-year-old resident of Karol Bagh, Bal Krishan Sharma, who had tested positive for Covid, had died.

“It was reported that the man lived with his wife Kanak Sharma, 76, who too was positive for the virus. The couple’s only daughter lives in the USA and his granddaughter who had come to Delhi is hesitant in performing their last rites. Finding no other alternative, a police team from Desh Bandhu Gupta Road police station arranged for Sharma’s last rites at the Panchkuiyan Road cremation ground,” deputy commissioner of police (central) Jasmeet Singh said.

He said police also arranged milk, groceries etc. for his wife Kanak Sharma. “However, on Saturday, Kanak has also succumbed to the pandemic. Her neighbours informed police and once again we took over the responsibility of her funeral and arranged an ambulance. Her last rites were also performed at the same crematorium,” Singh said.