Bihar faces harsh reality of funerals with mannequins being cremated amid lockdown

In an astonishing incident in Bihar, family members of two persons cremated the dummies of their deceased kin after failing to get the dead bodies back home amid the ongoing lockdown.

Begusarai: Amid nationwide lockdown, two cases of a funeral with no mourners were reported from Bihar as the bereaved families of the deceased persons couldn't get dead bodies back home, a source said on Wednesday.

An old man died in Dimapur of Nagaland, reportedly he hailed from Manjhaul town in Bihar. According to the sources, his family tried every possible method to get the dead body back home but there was no response from the government authorities.

Chandradev Ram worked as a security guard in Nagaland, the family said that he was not keeping well since April 3 and because of the ongoing lockdown, Chandradev was left with no options but to face the hardships alone.

According to the reports, his son had to perform the last rites over a video call. Besides this, the grieving family arranged his look-alike mannequin and carried out the cremation process.

While another similar case was reported from Begusarai district of Bihar where a daily earner who was walking back from Delhi to reach Bihar, died in Varanasi. Ramji Mohato who decided to walk home on April 3, succumbed to death after being deprived of food for several days.

However, his family denied bringing home the dead body citing the financial crisis as their main reason. Local sources say, the family was afraid that he might have died of coronavirus which is why they denied the body and decided to cremate a dummy instead. Further, the deceased's body was cremated by Varanasi police.

The cop added that both the deceased had tested negative for coronavirus but because of the countrywide lockdown their dead bodies couldn't be cremated by their family members.