Balrampur police, however, announced on the Twitter suspension of the two police constables who were present at the scene.
Clarion India
NEW DELHI – A video clip surfaced on the social media shows some municipal workers lifting a dead body lying on the roadside and dumping it in a garbage van in the presence of police officials in Balrampur town of Uttar Pradesh (UP).
Alok Panday, a journalist from UP who posted the video on his Twitter page, identified the deceased as Mohd Anwar who he wrote died on the road outside a government office on Wednesday. He captioned the videos: “Shameful, appalling.”
Shameful , appalling visuals from Balrampur . The body of 42 year old Mohd Anwar , who collapsed and died outside a govt office yesterday , dumped in a garbage van in the presence of @balrampurpolice and taken away …. pic.twitter.com/N5DCwe0QC9
— Alok Pandey (@alok_pandey) June 11, 2020
Taking cognizance of the incident, Balrampur police announced on the Twitter suspension of the two police constables who were present at the scene. The police termed the incident as “insensitive and regrettable”. The tweet added that the four municipality employees have also been found guilty.
The police chief of the district Dev Ranjan Verma has announced “bigger enquiry” into the incident.
शव को कुड़ा गाड़ी में डाल कर ले जाने की संवेदनहीन व खेदजनक घटना का तत्काल संज्ञान लेते हुये #Sp द्वारा वायरल वीडियो में दिख रहे 01 उ0नि0 तथा 02 आरक्षियों व प्रशासन द्वारा 04 नगर पालिका के कर्मचारियों को प्रथम दृष्टया दोषी पाते हुये तत्काल प्रभाव से निलम्बित कर दिया गया @Uppolice https://t.co/cv0eVUlSlZ
— BALRAMPUR POLICE (@balrampurpolice) June 11, 2020
The countrywide lockdown, which lasted for nearly 2.5 months, brought unprecedented miseries to the poor and marginalised sections of India. There have been numerous reports of death due to hunger, lack of healthcare, road accidents as people struggled for survival amidst the lockdown enforced with the purpose of controlling the spread of coronavirus. Critics have termed the lockdown “unplanned” even as it was a necessary measure.
The second part of the clip shows an ambulance nearby but Panday says that those manning it allegedly refused to touch the body for fear of contracting the virus.
The dumping of a Muslim dead body in a garbage van in UP's Balrampur indeed reflects mindset of govt staff & @balrampurpolice towards Muslims in general. It's shows cruel face of #Muslimphobia.@UNHumanRights @USCIRF @ihrc @LadyVelvet_HFQ @MJALSHRIKA @myogiadityanath @HMOIndia https://t.co/0w57xD0lno
— Navaid Hamid نوید حامد (@navaidhamid) June 11, 2020
Inhuman. Man who died on the road, his body being dumped in a garbage van https://t.co/lVSLz7H0Bx
— ShonakshiChakravarty (@ShonakshiC) June 11, 2020
As soon as the clip surfaced, people started pouring out their outrage. Their common refrain was that it is indeed an inhuman and criminal to handle a human body in such a shabby manner.
abhorrent and criminal! https://t.co/z6ctMOeitq
— Haris Zargar (@harriszargar) June 11, 2020
Mohammad Anwar is just you & me in the days to come. We are the state's garbage. https://t.co/EevrQUQBa2
— Sasidharan Pazhoor (@inquestioner) June 11, 2020
