Humanity shone most brightly at village Gopalganj in Palamu district where on April 23 evening, a youth who died in institutional quarantine without any health issue or symptom at all on Wednesday April 22 night was given a silent but graceful burial with no whisper of any protest or suspicion.
Civil surgeon John F Kennedy described this youth’s health card as asymptomatic and all healthy with no remote sign or symptom of any morbidity.
SDPO, Lesliganj, Anup Baraik, said, “The youth was buried with body bag. It was not opened at all. His family members cooperated with us. The body in bag was straight taken down to the grave yard.”
Baraik said, “Some family members wanted thebody in bag to be given to them but we knew their sentiments, emotions and tremendous grief over the death of the youth would made them ignore health safeguards and so we did a hard persuasion and this family agreed to our point which was body in bag at graveyard not at home.”
Baraik said the burial was done quite silently and without any protest or resistance. The village mourned but not erupted in any anger suspicion or doubt unlike other places where cremation or burial is now a challenging task.
However Baraik said some in the Muslim community wanted last bath for the dead which is a very important post death ritual in Islam but here permission for last bath would have meant opening of the body bag which was not beneficial from health point to any one and so here again police did hard job and got the family ready to skip this rite more for the peace of the dead and the family did accordingly.
SP Ajay Linda said police are waiting for the post mortem report. The post mortem has been done by a board of 3 doctors.
Sources said the family has expressed its utmost suspicion over the death of the youth in the governmental quarantine centre citing allegations that this youth was given a separate room, the window from where it is said he hanged himself to death is very low in height, there is scratch on his one hand only, a woman with grams went to his room on Wednesday evening and finally police found this body in bed not hanging then who the inmate is to remove and place this body in bed.
SP Palamu Ajay Linda said, “Police are investigating this case from all angles. This inmate lived single in that centre. He had wounds on his left wrist only. There was a ball pen with its nib broken. “
Linda said a woman who is the inmate of this centre did go to his room with gram only to find him dead there.
SP agreed the body was found in bed when police reached there but he added this could be when some good samaritans tried hard to untie the hanging knots with the hope the fellow may resuscitate to life.
Linda said call details of this youth had found him ‘only talking on phone’ for 4 days that he spent at this centre from day one April 18 to day end April 22.