HHRC takes suo motu note of body carried on pushcart in Faridabad case

Family allegedly couldn’t pay ₹700 for transport and got no ambulance aid. HHRC cites Article 21 dignity rights and seeks responses from health officials by April 2, 2026.

The Haryana Human Rights Commission (HHRC) has taken suo motu cognisance of an incident where the body of a 35-year-old woman was transported on a motorised push cart by her family as they could allegedly not afford an ambulance. The commission termed the situation as “gross violation of human dignity and a serious failure of the public health system”.

HHRC flagged contradictory hospital responses on ambulance use and noted recurring gaps nationwide where poor families transport bodies due to lack of services. (HT Photo)

The notice was issued following a news report published on January 30, which detailed that the woman died during treatment at Faridabad’s Badshah Khan Civil Hospital. According to the report, the family was unable to arrange ₹700 demandedby a private cart operator for transporting the body and did not receive any ambulance support too from the hospital or district administration. The family eventually carried the body to their village, about 7–10km away, on an open motorised cart.

In its order, the commission, headed by justice Lalit Batra, said the incident raises grave concerns about the State’s obligation to ensure dignity and humane treatment, even after death. It observed that the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution includes the right to live and die with dignity, and that dignity does not cease upon death.

“In the absence of any ambulance or hearse facility being provided by the hospital or district administration, the family was compelled to make its own arrangement. Dead body was transported to the village Sarurpur on a motorised pushcart, an act that reflects not choice but compulsion born out of poverty and institutional neglect,” the order read.

HHRC described the reported scene as deeply distressing — with the woman’s elderly father-in-law driving the cart, family members walking alongside, and her seven-year-old son holding onto the shroud to prevent it from blowing away — calling it incompatible with the standards expected of a welfare state.

The commission noted that similar incidents across the country show a recurring systemic gap where poor families are forced to transport patients and bodies through makeshift means due to lack of accessible services. It also flagged contradictory responses from health officials — one stating ambulances are not meant for carrying bodies, and another saying no request was made — and said this reflects a policy vacuum and administrative insensitivity.

Further, the commission has recommended that the Haryana health department frame a policy to ensure free and dignified transportation of bodies of deceased persons from economically weaker families who die in civil hospitals.

Notices have been issued to the additional chief secretary of Health and Family Welfare department, director general of health services, and the Faridabad civil surgeon, to submit action taken reports before the next hearing scheduled for April 2, 2026.