Odisha: Hospital sweepers break woman's body so that it could be transported

BHUBANEShWAR: Taking suo moto notice of the Balasore district headquarters hospital workers allegedly breaking the body of a woman into pieces — Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has sought a report from the Railway Police on the matter.

OHRC chairperson justice B.K. Mishra has issued summons to the inspector general of Railway Police and the Balasore district magistrate over newspaper reports and television images that showed two hospital sweepers breaking the bones of a body and wrapping it in a bed-sheet.

The woman identified as Taramani Barik (85) died on Wednesday after being run over by a train at Soro railway station, nearly 200 km from here. The doctors at the Soro Community Health Centre declared her dead.

Reports said that the railway officials, who wanted to take the body to the district headquarters hospital in Balasore town (30km away) for an autopsy found no ambulance or vehicle. A junior railway police official reportedly asked the sweepers at the health centre for help.

As the body had stiffened, sweepers allegedly broke the leg and hip bones so that it could be neatly packed into a gunny bag. The sweepers then carried the body in the gunny bag all the way from the railway station to hospital on their shoulders on a bamboo pole.

Rabindra Barik, son of Taramani said that the Railway Police treated her mother in the most inhumane way after her death. “It pains me a lot that my mother was treated in such an inhuman manner after her death. The persons who broke my mother’s bones and packed her body parts into a gunny bag be punished severely,” he demanded.

Balasore district collector and magistrate Pramod Das on Friday said he had asked for a report from the Railway Police over the incident.