Tribal forced to donate son’s body

■ Poor woman gives body to medical college

■ RECENTLY, a young tribal was found carrying his infant son, who died during treatment at the medical college hospital, in a plastic bag after being denied hearsay to take the body to his village. Too poor to perform last rites of her deceased son, a tribal woman of Bastar district in south Chhattisgarh chose an alternative way to pay respects to her son by donating his body to the local medical college for the benefits of the medicos.

According to Mangal Singh, mortuary in-charge of Maharani Medical College and Hospital in Jagdalpur, headquarters of Bastar, Sudhri Bai, 65, had been left with no option but to donate the body of her son Baman, 21, who succumbed to injuries following a hit-and-run incident a couple of days ago.

“She was too poor to bear expenses for carrying her son’s body to her village of Bade Arapar in Bastar district to perform the last rites. I suggested her to donate the body to the medical college to help students in practical classes. She gave her consent,” Mr Singh who himself is a tribal, said on Saturday. Sudhri had lost her husband a couple of years ago.

According to the Bastar police, Baman, who was working as a conductor for a local travel agency, was hit by a vehicle in his village on February 12.

He succumbed to his injuries at the Maharani hospital three days later.

“We pleaded people in our village for help to take the body home. But, nobody responded to our pleas,” Sudhri Bai’s daughter-inlaw Premvati said.