Punjab: Man carries 11-year-old daughter's body on shoulders for cremation, video goes viral
Chandigarh, May 15: A video of a daily-wager carrying the corpse of his 11-year-old daughter on his shoulders in Punjab's Jalandhar has gone viral on social media, prompting district authorities to order a probe into the incident.
In the video, which was shot by some passersby on May 10, Dilip can be seen carrying the body of his daughter Sonu on his shoulders to the cremation ground for her last rites. His son was also with him.
Talking to the media on Saturday, Dilip said his daughter had not been well and he took her to a hospital in Amritsar for treatment on the advice of doctors at a Jalandhar hospital.
He said his daughter died on the evening of May 9 at the Amritsar hospital.
After he brought the body to his room in Ram Nagar in Jalandhar, his neighbours did not come forward to help him fearing that the girl was a COVID-19 patient, said Dilip, who hails from Odisha.
Meanwhile, Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori ordered a probe into the whole incident after the video went viral on social media.
He said it was found that the minor did not succumb to COVID-19.
The DC said as per an inquiry conducted by the sub divisional magistrate, the cause of death was not COVID-19 as she had tested negative for the infection.
He said the girl was admitted in Jalandhar Civil Hospital from where she was referred to the Amritsar Medical college.
An ambulance carried the patient to Amritsar, where she remained admitted in the surgical ward.
After the death, an ambulance again dropped the body back in Jalandhar at their house.
The DC assured fulsome support to the family in this hour of grief.
COVID Patient Tracking Officer (CPTO) Navneet Kaur Bal said no one in the family or anyone in the area came forward to seek help in the cremation.
She said in normal cases (other than COVID deaths), once the body is handed over to the family, they take care of the last rights. However, in the present case, no one approached her for help in cremation.
Bal also stated that the cremation protocol is followed only in case of COVID death, however this case was different as the deceased had tested negative for the infection.
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People taught lesson to those who were talking about changing Constitution: Pawar
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Maharashtra) (PTI): NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Friday said the country taught a lesson to those who were talking about changing the Constitution.
He was speaking at the unveiling of the Urdu translation of English book "Padmavibhushan Sharad Pawar - The great Enigma" by Sheshrao Chavan here.
The political situation in the country should change, Pawar said, adding, "We should think where we are heading. We have to see that the country does not fall in the wrong hands."
Four months ago (during the Lok Sabha election campaign), Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party colleagues made statements that were not in national interest, the NCP (SP) chief said, referring to BJP leader Ananthkumar Hegde's controversial remark that they needed 400-plus seats to amend the Constitution.
"It is a good thing that the people taught a lesson to those who talked about changing the Constitution," Pawar said.
He also hit back at Union minister Amit Shah who recently called him "ringleader of corrupt people".
"A week ago, Amit Shah said that Sharad Pawar is the ringleader of all the corrupt people in the country. Earlier, when he was in Gujarat, he used the law in the wrong manner. For that the Supreme Court externed him from Gujarat. The one who was externed by the Supreme Court is holding charge of the Union Home Ministry now," Pawar said.
Shah was discharged in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter case in 2014.
