81-year-old man, a distant relative of former Vice-President B.D. Jatti, denied burial in his hometown

Nanjangud: Families bereaved by COVID-19 are often unable to bid a dignified farewell to their loved ones as neighbours, friends and relatives avoid them due to stigma and fear of infections. A number of instances of people shunning the time-honoured solidarity that keeps communities together have left everyone worried. 

Even people who die of non-COVID reasons and due to age-related ailments are denied dignified last rites like it happened in Nanjangud on Wednesday evening where relatives of an 81-year-old man, who died of age-related ailments were denied permission for the last rites forcing the relatives to take back the body to Bengaluru. 

Jagadeesh, a distant relative of former Vice-President B.D. Jatti and father of Shilpa Jatti breathed his last in Bengaluru on Wednesday morning. As the family owned a piece of land at Hanchipura village near Nanjangud, Shilpa wanted to perform the last rites there. Accordingly, the body was brought to Hanchipura on Wednesday evening by family members in an ambulance. 

Villagers stop burial

On seeing the ambulance, villagers tried to stop the burial. The family had hired an earth mover to dig a pit and had followed the ambulance in six cars, all of which bore registration plates of Bengaluru. Panic-stricken villagers who had gathered in large numbers objected to the burial in their village as they feared that the man died of COVID-19 and his burial would spread infection in the village. 

Though the burial was to take place not at a public graveyard but on a property owned by the family, the villagers refused to budge. A tense atmosphere prevailed in Hanchipura village and Shilpa Jatti contacted the Hullahalli Police. Sub-Inspector Surendra tried to pacify the agitated villagers and said that the virus does not spread from a dead body and moreover, Jagadeesh died of natural causes and not due to COVID-19. 

Body forced back to Bengaluru

The villagers, however, refused to listen to the Policemen and asked the family to take back the body to Bengaluru for burial. Shilpa tried to convince the villagers that it was her father’s last wish to be interred in his native place. Still, the villagers refused to permit the burial and Shilpa announced that she will take her father’s body back to Bengaluru.  

The ordeal of the family did not end here. While the body was being taken back to Bengaluru in the dark, miscreants pelted stones at the vehicles and damaged the cars. Manohar, a Head Constable was injured in stone pelting. In the melee, two cars lost way and took a detour towards Hediyala Road and entered Hosavidu village. 

Cop abused

Not stopping at obstructing the burial, Hanchipura residents had alerted their counterparts in Hosavidu about the possibility of the people in the cars being virus carriers. The cars were forced to stop in Hosavidu. Police were summoned again and after much deliberation, the Police diverted the cars to Bengaluru. 

A few villagers of Hosavidu allegedly abused one of the cops who was accidentally left alone by a Police team that had arrived in the village. The villagers charged the Policeman for trying to protect the interests of influential people while sacrificing the interests of the villagers. The cop was denied passage. Later, however, village elders intervened in the issue and let the Police Constable go from the village. 

Nanjangud Police have booked cases against 15 residents of Hanchipura for damaging cars. Villagers Mahadevaswamy, Abhishek, Suresh, Manjunath, Shankar and Mahadevaswamy have been arrested, said Hullahalli SI Surendra. A few villagers of Hosavidu have been booked for preventing a Cop from discharging his duties.