Unable to get a hearse to carry the body of a teenaged girl who was brought dead to the hospital in Phulbani, the relatives took the body in a wheeled stretcher in a procession through the streets.
The Kandhamal district administration provided a vehicle only when the procession reached the district police headquarters.
The sub-divisional police officer of Phulbani, SN Murmu, said that the girl from Benangpaju village had drowned while taking a bath and was brought to the hospital early in the morning.
After the doctors declared the girl “brought dead”, her relatives and other concerned villagers had asked the hospital authorities to provide a hearse to take away the body. Though they waited there for two and a half hours for the vehicle, there was no response from the hospital authorities.
Collector of Kandhamal Brunda D has ordered an inquiry into the incident and asked for the report within the next 48 hours.
Guna Nidhi Bhuyan, the father of the girl, said, “We waited for over two and a half hours for the hearse to arrive.”