A daily wage labourer in Odisha’s Balasore district was forced to carry his daughter’s body in a van rickshaw for 6km after failing to get a hearse from the hospital.
The 20-year-old woman had died by suicide under mysterious circumstances on Wednesday night. On Thursday, police reached the spot and seized the body. However, instead of taking it for a post-mortem, they allegedly left, asking the father to arrange transportation to the hospital. The incident took place in Baliapal.
Madhu Bindhani, the father of the woman, said: “I called a hearse to take the body for post-mortem. The driver demanded ₹1,200, which I could not arrange. As the ambulance (hearse) did not turn up, I sought help from the villagers. They arranged a van rickshaw and I took the body to the hospital myself.”
According to legal protocol, all unnatural deaths require a post-mortem to determine the cause.
Bindhani is a daily wage labourer from Bindhani Sahi village, which falls under Deula panchayat.
Sources said family disputes and extreme poverty might have led the girl to take the extreme step. “There were frequent fights at home, and the girl appeared disturbed. Without informing anyone, she left home and hanged herself from a tree on Wednesday night,” a villager claimed.
Baliapal police inspector Govind Chandra Behera told The Telegraph: “We received the information in the afternoon and sent a team to conduct an inquest. Because of the Odisha bandh on Thursday, it was difficult to arrange a vehicle. We had asked the family to wait, but instead, the father transported the body to the hospital with villagers’ help. We have sought an explanation from the police team on why they left the body behind.”
On the possible reason behind the suicide, Behera said the girl was under treatment for mental illness and had quarrelled with her mother before leaving home.
The incident brought back memories of the 2016 case of Dana Majhi, a tribal man from Kalahandi who had to carry his wife’s body for over 12km on foot after being denied a hearse at a government hospital in Bhawanipatna. Following national outrage, the state government had promised systemic reforms to prevent such tragedies.
However, observers say such incidents continue in rural Odisha, highlighting persistent institutional apathy and administrative failure.