Tyre, petrol used to cremate body in Ballia; five cops suspended

Varanasi: Five police constables of Fefna police station in Ballia were suspended by SP Vipin Tada on Tuesday for their insensitivity, after a video showing tyres and petrol being used by a man to cremate a body found in the Ganga in their presence went viral on social media.
SP Ballia Vipin Tada told TOI on Tuesday, “The video depicting insensitivity of the cops was shared widely on social media on Monday.I sought details from Fefna police station and the five policemen seen standing near the body were identified and suspended with immediate effect today. ASP Ballia has been asked to probe the incident.”
Initial probe revealed that the incident had taken place at Maldepur ghat under Fefna police station in Ballia district on Monday morning after a decomposed body had washed ashore. The five police constables had called a local and asked him to cremate the body.
The video showed the man also using a tyre and throwing petrol on the pyre while cremating the body.
The video showing insensitivity went viral at a time when the issue of floating bodies in the Ganga and its tributaries amid Covid menace has created a stir, left senior police and administration officials ruffled. The administration and police have already launched a massive drive to check the practice of immersion of bodies in rivers.
Varanasi divisional commissioner Deepak Agrawal said, “When bodies were spotted in rivers we deployed teams along rivers and at cremation ghats in rural belts to make people aware not disposing bodies in rivers and to inform them that provisions have been made from state finance commission to bear the cost of cremation by local bodies if the kin are in financial distress.”
Bodies were found floating in rivers in Ghazipur and Ballia after Buxar administration and Bihar police claimed over 70 dead bodies had flown down from UP and put a net in the river.
The Opposition used the issue to target the UP Government and even alleged under-reporting of Covid-19 deaths in the state.
The administration then deployed police and PAC personnel to patrol the rivers on boats.