In Madhya Pradesh's Ashoknagar district, the death of a 15-year-old tribal girl has now raised questions not only about the circumstances in which she died, but also about the dignity denied to her even after death.
In Bahadurpur town of Mungawali block, a minor girl's body allegedly lay on the roadside for nearly two hours under a scorching 41-degree Celsius sun after her post-mortem was completed. Her grieving family, already shattered by her death, was forced to plead for help, beg for a vehicle, and finally carry the body in their arms when no hearse, stretcher, ward boy, or official arrangement was made available.
The incident has exposed the glaring gap between the Health Department's claims and the brutal reality faced by poor tribal families on the ground.
The 15-year-old girl, a resident of Kheroda Chakk village in the Bahadurpur region, was found hanging inside her home on the previous evening. Her family members brought her body to the primary health centre in Bahadurpur the same night. But instead of getting basic assistance, the family say they were left to spend the entire night guarding the body not from grief alone, but from dogs and rats.
By around 10 am the next morning, the post-mortem examination had been completed. But what followed was a scene that has left humanity itself in the dock.
According to the family, the hospital provided neither a cloth to wrap the body nor a plastic sheet. The body was simply handed back to them in the clothes they had brought from home. They could not even get a stretcher or a ward boy to help carry the body out of the hospital.
After waiting helplessly, the family was forced to lift the minor girl's body themselves. Under the blazing sun, they set out carrying her body in their arms and on their shoulders. With no hearse and no official vehicle available, they placed the body by the roadside and began pleading with private vehicle drivers to take her home.
Even when the family offered money, no one agreed.
For nearly two hours, the body of the child lay on the roadside in 41-degree Celsius heat, wrapped only in cloth, while her family waited in desperation. For two hours, the administration was missing. For two hours, the system looked away.
It was only when social worker Aditya Trivedi came to know about the ordeal that he reached the spot and transported the girl's body to her village in his private car.
The visuals and accounts from the spot have triggered outrage, with locals questioning how a minor girl's body could be left in such an undignified condition after a post-mortem and why an impoverished tribal family had to rely on a private individual when official arrangements should have been made.
When Bahadurpur Medical Officer Dr YS Tomar was asked about the incident, he appeared to shift responsibility towards the police.
"The role of the doctor on duty is to note the condition in which the body arrived for the post-mortem," Dr Tomar said. "Generally, arrangements involve transporting the body to the post-mortem facility using police vehicles, tractors, or private vehicles. Subsequently, the body is handed over to a police constable. After the post-mortem, the police, through the local police station, handle the arrangements for further disposition."
He further said that such facilities are available at the District Hospital, but delays are common.
"While provisions exist at the District Hospital, we often find that after calling them, we end up waiting for two to four hours. Consequently, we are compelled to arrange for a tractor, usually with the assistance of the police, to transport the body," Dr Tomar added.
His statement has only deepened the questions. If the system itself knows that official arrangements take hours, why was no immediate alternative ensured? Why was the family left to fend for itself? Why was the body of a minor girl not handled with basic dignity?
The matter becomes even more serious because the deceased was reportedly a minor from a tribal family, and her death was under suspicious circumstances. According to established procedure in such sensitive cases, the presence of an executive magistrate is required for the preparation of the panchnama. The presence of senior police officials, including the SDOP, is also considered necessary during the post-mortem in such sensitive cases.
However, in this case, these protocols were allegedly not followed.
When questioned on whether the required procedure was observed, Dr Tomar said that the post-mortem had been conducted by Dr Raj Singh Rajput and that he did not have specific details of the procedure.
But when media persons pointed out that the deceased was a 15-year-old minor, the doctor's response was startling. He asked, "Was she married or unmarried?"
He then said that there are specific provisions under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita governing post-mortem procedures in suspicious death cases and added that the Station House Officer is responsible for receiving information and making necessary arrangements.
