21-year-old’s family attends his funeral through video call

RANCHI: A 21-year-old man’s family in Jharkhand’s Simdega district on Monday buried his clothes in a grave as per the local tradition as they could not attend his last rites in Goa, where he died of jaundice on Sunday, even as a live video of his funeral was streamed to them on phone. Arjun Baraik’s body could not be brought to his remote Jharkhand village due to the ongoing lockdown to check the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I cannot express my pain. My son’s body could not be brought to our village due to the lockdown. His friends there in Goa showed us the funeral on phone,” said Baraik’s father, Ram Kumar, 42, a mason.

Baraik had left the village around five months back in search of work. “Arjun first went to Gujarat. But he did not like the work there and then went to Goa some two months back and worked at a hotel,” said Baraik’s uncle, Suraj.

Baraik’s family came to know that he was suffering from jaundice a week back and wanted to bring him back but could not due to the lockdown. “His friends there [in Goa] admitted him to a hospital for treatment... he died on Sunday night,” Suraj said.

Baraik’s friend, Niku Gaud, who is from Odisha, said a week ago the former’s health started deteriorating. “...when he started facing breathing problem, we took him to a hospital. He died at 9pm on Sunday. Doctors said he was suffering from acute jaundice.”

He said since there was no way to send his body to his village, they arranged for cremation in Goa on Monday. “His entire family gathered in his village in Jharkhand. We showed them the cremation live on phone through a video call from here in Goa. We also send the family video recording of the cremation,” Gaud said over the phone from Goa.