Uttar Pradesh: Hardoi Police ‘bury’ Hindu victim of road accident, probe ordered

The police claim that they decided to bury the body as the doctor who conducted the postmortem told them that the youth belonged to the Muslim community.

A week later, some people from Sursa village in Hardoi district identified the deceased as Amar Singh (26) after checking the belongings found from the person of the deceased, photograph and motorcycle.

Hardoi Superintendent of Police Alok Priyadarshi, said an inquiry was ordered to find out why efforts were not made to identify the victim despite the fact that his motorcycle, which is registered in the name of his wife, was recovered and kept at the police outpost, he added.

“Circle Officer of Badhauli area, Akhilesh Rajan, has been tasked with an inquiry into the matter and asked to submit a report at the earliest. On the basis of the findings, action would be taken,” said Priyadarshi.

Amar Singh, who was a labourer, is survived by wife Lalpari and a two-year-old daughter.

On June 26, the police control room was informed about a road accident in Badhauli police station area of Hardoi. The informer, who identified himself only as Rajesh, said a youth was lying injured on the road after an unidentified vehicle hit his motorcycle, said SHO of Badhauli police station, Phool Chand Saroj.

He claimed that a police team went to the spot and took the injured to the district hospital and later parked his motorcycle at Badhauli police outpost.

Two days later, the victim died during treatment. The SHO claimed that as his identity could not be ascertained, the police kept the body for three days to see if anyone claims it and later buried the body in a graveyard after postmortem.

The SHO initially claimed that a policemen from a ‘Dial 100’ team were responsible for parking the motorcycle at the outpost and not informing them about the accident.

However, when Amar Singh’s family reached Badhauli outpost while searching for him and spotted his motorcycle parked inside, policemen present there told them that the vehicle belonged to a road accident victim. Policemen also showed the belongings recovered from the person of the deceased and also a photograph of the victim.

The SHO later changed his statement and claimed that the policemen at the outpost did not inform him about the motorcycle.

He added that after the deceased was identified, the family members asked for the body to perform the last rites. We informed them that the body had been buried as doctors told us that he was from the Muslim community, claimed Saroj.

The family then approached the district magistrate (DM), Hardoi, Pulkit Khare, seeking permission to get the body exhumed.

The DM formed a three-member committee led by sub-divisional magistrate (Sadar) and comprising chief medical officer (Hardoi) and SHO Badhauli. The DM directed that the body should be exhumed on July 8.

“A day before approaching the DM, the family had visited the graveyard and the caretaker showed them a space claiming that the body was buried there. However, when the three-member committee reached the graveyard on July 8 with police force, the caretaker showed another space. We later called a staffer at the mortuary, who had carried the body to the graveyard for burial. The latter showed another spot, creating more confusion,” informed SHO Phool Chand Saroj.

He said that owing to the uncertainty, the police decided to first confirm the particular space.

When contacted, Amar Singh’s nephew, Sipahi Lal, said, “Police have told us that they will soon identify the space and the body will be handed over to us.”