Unable to get body home, migrant's family conducts dummy funeral

A year-old child lit his father's pyre in Gorakhpur last week, a poignant moment made heart-wrenching by the fact that the body wasn't there. It lay in a morgue, hundreds of kilometres away in Delhi.

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Crippled by poverty and the coronavirus lockdown, Sunil's family in Dumrikhurd village in Chauri Chaura police station area was forced to conduct a dummy funeral for him, setting an effigy on fire.

The family did not have the money to get the body of the 38-year-old transported from Delhi and the lockdown against coronavirus made it almost impossible for them to travel to conduct the last rites there.

The body will be cremated in Delhi on Wednesday after a post-mortem, Chauri Chaura sub divisional magistrate Arpit Gupta said.

Sunil's contractor called the family in Gorakhpur on April 11, telling them that Sunil was sick with “chechak”, a possible reference to measles.

"We tried calling Sunil but he never answered the phone, as he was in hospital," his father Radheyshyam told PTI.

A policeman called from Sunil's phone on April 14, telling them that he had died, his parents said.

"We were not able to bring back the body as the charges were Rs 25,000 and we can't pay such a big amount.”

His wife Poonam sent a letter through SDM Arpit Gupta to Delhi Police, asking them to conduct a post-mortem and the cremation.

And last Thursday, the family conducted the 'cremation' back home, with Sunil's son lighting the pyre, the parents said.

"The entire village is in a state of shock after the family performed the dummy cremation," Gupta said.

The local administration has raised Rs 75,000 and deposited the amount in his wife's bank account and provided the family with groceries, he said.

"We will also provide free education to the children of the deceased," Gupta said.

He had five children -- four daughters and a son.

The SDM said the government would offer more help once the cause of death is ascertained.

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Gujarat: 11 migrants held for trying to reach Odisha on bicycles

Eleven migrant workers were arrested in Gujarat's Navsari district while they were heading from Surat to their native places in Odisha on bicycles during the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, police said on Tuesday.

The workers took a wrong route to reach Odisha, located around 1,500 km from Surat, and they were caught by Navsari police on Sunday when they were passing through National Highway No.48, which connects Gujarat to Mumbai, police inspector P P Brahmbhatt said.

They were arrested under Indian Penal Code Sections 188 (disobedience to police order), 269, 270 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life).

They were later released on bail and sent back to Pandesara area of Surat, the official said.

"These workers from Odisha were jobless since several weeks due to the lockdown. They were desperate to go back home as they had no money and were facing food shortage. They had planned to cover 1,500 km on bicycles, but lost their path and started cycling towards Mumbai via Navsari," said Brahmbhatt.

Their plan was to reach Odisha in 15 days by covering around 100 km everyday, another police official said.

Left with no money, they were carrying dry poha (flattened rice flakes), which they planned to eat by adding water whenever they felt hungry during the journey, he added.

In the past few weeks, hundreds of migrant workers from Odisha and other parts of country staged violent protests in Surat, demanding that they be sent back to their native places.