The disturbing video was widely shared on social media on Thursday.
Kolkata:
A disturbing video of decomposed bodies loaded into a van in a crematorium in southern Calcutta was widely disseminated on social networks Thursday, prompting Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to tweet his anguish at the “disposal of corpses with indescribable insensitivity and heartless ”and forcing the authorities to make clarifications. Authorities were also forced to refute allegations by residents protesting the crematorium and the BJP that the bodies belonged to people who died from coronavirus.
“The West Bengal health department said the corpses were not COVID patients, but were unclaimed / unidentified bodies from the Morgue hospital. Legal proceedings are underway against those who broadcast #FakeNews ( sic) “, tweeted the Kolkata police.
The basis of the tweet was a letter from the director of NRS Medical College, one of Kolkata’s main state hospitals, to the city’s police commissioner who said: “14 unclaimed bodies” have been handed over to Kolkata Municipal Corporation of the hospital morgue for disposal.
The bodies were not coronavirus patients, he wrote, adding that “the subject of the video was false and that the police should take the necessary action”.
The video appears to have been taken on Wednesday at Garia Adi Mahashamshan, in southern Calcutta, where residents began to protest when a municipal van arrived with apparently 13 bodies.
The entire area was allegedly affected by a stench when the bodies were transferred from the van to the crematorium. Local protesters had locked the door to the crematorium, reports said.
In the clip shared on social media, we hear a man shouting on the phone: “You sent us here to get beaten?” Behind him, we see a man – in red shorts and a waistcoat – dragging one body after another from the crematorium building in the municipal van.
In deeply disturbing visuals, the man was seen holding the bodies with a long pair of pliers.
When the video was filmed, reports of the protests had reached the officials concerned, and they had ordered that the bodies be returned to the van and taken from the crematorium.
Firhad Hakim, head of the board of directors who currently heads the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, said the unclaimed bodies had been cremated earlier at the Dhapa crematorium. As of May 29, however, Dhapa was only reserved for coronavirus victims and unclaimed bodies were taken to the Garia crematorium.
Governor Jagdeep Dhankar was the first to respond to the video, which in several tweets requested an “urgent update” from the state’s interior minister. Marking chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the tweets, he said that details of the bodies – when they were admitted to the hospital and treated – must be shared.
“How can human bodies be dragged so rudely! This is a disgrace to humanity,” he said in one of the tweets.
Anguish at the disposal of corpses @MamataOfficial -with indescribable heartless insensitivity. Do not share videos due to sensitivity.
SEEKED FOR AN URGENT UPDATE @HomeSecretaryWB
In our society, the corpse benefits from the highest rituals of respect which are practiced according to tradition (1/3)
– Governor of West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@ jdhankhar1) June 11, 2020
We are not a police state. Injecting such fear in public is authoritarianism. Repressive measures do not bode well for democracy.
Will be looking for details @MamataOfficial & take the logical end. Muzzling media or people by twisting the police will no longer work. (2/3)
– Governor of West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@ jdhankhar1) June 11, 2020
BJP Leader of the Opposition Dilip Ghosh said: “The bodies were hidden, the bodies of the victims of Covid. To remove the death toll from Covid, many suspicious things were done.”
Recalling an incident in 2010, when some Maoists were killed during a meeting in Lalgarh and the police saw the bodies of bamboo pole trellis carried, Mr. Ghosh said: “Ms. Banerjee stopped Bengal, outraged at the treatment of the bodies of the Maoists. But now the bodies of innocent people who have died in Covid are being abused. If you cannot give the bodies to the family, at least dispose of them properly. “
CPM MP Sujan Chakraborty wrote to Firhad Hakim asking if they were coronavirus-related deaths. “People have the right to know the truth,” said Chakraborty.
