New Delhi: A tribal man who cremated his father’s body on a road, as he could not afford to pay the high charges being demanded by the crematorium, was booked by the police in Gujarat’s Surat district following a complaint by some ‘upper’ caste people.
The Indian Express has reported that the incident took place in Ena village. The accused, Shiv, a farm labourer, did not have enough money to conduct the last rites of his father, Mohankumar Rathod, 45, a farm labourer, who died on Tuesday.
When Shiv, who belonged to the tribal Halapati community, reached the cremation ground along with other family members and approached Dharmik Maisurya of the Ena Yuvak Mandal, which runs the crematorium, he was told that the charges have been revised from Rs 1,100 to Rs 2,500.
The newspaper, quoting village sources, says Shiv told Maisurya that he did not have enough money to pay the revised rate. However, the manager refused to reduce or waive the amount.
At this, Shiv and others accompanying him decided to cremate the body outside the cremation ground premises. They bought wooden logs from nearby shops and performed the cremation on the main road.
This was not liked by people of other communities, who took photos and posted them on social media. A local resident, Yagnik Thakor, also lodged a complaint with the Palsana police against Shiv on the ground that the cremation in a public place had “hurt his religious sentiments”.
Also read: When Will India’s Educational Institutes Have Their ‘Dalit Lives Matter’ Moment?
Meanwhile, tension grew between Halapatis and other community members in the area, in particular Patidars, when another Halapati farm worker, Mahesh Rathod, died on Wednesday and his body too was taken to the same cremation ground.
This time, a large number of non-Halapati community members from the village got into an altercation with them over the payment of cremation charges.
However, the Palsana police reached the spot in time and arranged for the cremation to take place within the crematorium. Later they also called a meeting of Halapati community leaders and Ena Yuvak Mandal committee members to discuss the revised charges and arrive at a compromise.
It was then decided that while the cremation fees would be waived for the Halapati community, they would be required to bring wood for the cremation and also clean the area after the last rites are performed