In a shocking incident, a poor couple in Bihar's Samastipur was forced to beg to collect Rs 50,000 as bribe for the mortuary staff of a government hospital to get the body of their dead son.
The victim Mahesh Thakur and his wife begged for an entire day in the localities of Samastipur on Wednesday. An official of the post-mortem house had demanded Rs 50,000 from them to release the body.
Samastipur civil surgeon Dr S.K. Chaudhary confirmed the incident.
"We have learnt from the mediapersons about the demand of Rs 50,000 from a parent to release the body. Such an act is against humanity. We have initiated action against the alleged employee of the post-mortem house," Chaudhary said.
Mahesh Thakur is a native of Kasbe Ahar village under Tajpur police station. His mentally unstable son had gone missing since May 25 this year.
On June 7, a body was recovered from an area under the Musrigharari police station. The police recovered the unidentified body and sent it for post-mortem.
As the missing complaint was registered in the Tajpur police station, local police contacted Mahesh Thakur to identify the body. When he reached the post-mortem house, the employees initially refused to show the body. When they repeatedly requested the employees, they allowed them to identify the body in the mortuary.
When Mahesh identified the body as that of his son, the employees present at the mortuary demanded Rs 50,000 to release it. When Mahesh's pleadings did not move their hearts, he and his wife went to the nearby localities and begged for money. They were seen knocking on the doors to collect money. A video in this regard went viral on social media.
After the viral video was reported to Chaudhary, he intervened and handed over the body to the hapless parents.