The Dakshina Kannada district administration faced difficulty in conducting the last rites of a woman who died of COVID-19 in Mangaluru on Thursday as some people opposed the cremation planned in the city. Ultimately, she was cremated at her native place, Bantwal, early on Friday.
The 75-year-old woman died at the Government Wenlock Hospital in Mangaluru. She was undergoing treatment for stroke at a private hospital in the city before being shifted to Wenlock. She was a relative of the 50-year-old woman, also from Bantwal, who died of COVID-19 and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) at the COVID hospital on April 19.
The police said the district administration had planned to cremate the 75-year-old at a crematorium in Pachchanady. But a large number of people, who learnt about it in advance, gathered there to oppose it and urge the district administration to shift the body to Bantwal. The MLA for Mangaluru City North, Y. Bharath Shetty, who is also a doctor, went to the spot and asked the police not to shift the body to Pachchanady as the residents were charged up.
According to the police, groups had gathered at the Bolur crematorium and at a few others to oppose the cremation. Subsequently, the authorities decided to shift the body to Bantwal.
In a tweet sent out on Thursday night, Mr. Shetty said, “Cremation with fire is accepted method to dispose [of] dead body. However, thousands of people including women gathered at Pachchanady, in panic over rumours, and were reluctant to move. In order to protect law and order, we had to change plans.”
Abandoned
The police said after the body in the mortuary was placed in an ambulance at midnight, its driver learnt that many people had gathered at the crematorium at Bantwal. After driving the ambulance for a few metres, he suddenly abandoned the vehicle. He was counselled and sent to Bantwal along with a police force. The last rites were performed in Bantwal about 2 a.m. on Friday.
“People had gathered there [in Bantwal] too. We managed to convince them and send them away before performing the last rights,” said Dakshina Kannada Superintendent of Police B.M. Laxmi Prasad on Friday.
On April 19, when the body of the first COVID-19 victim was to be cremated at Bolur, the police faced resistance from locals, who even damaged some vehicles that were part of the convoy leading the ambulance shifting the body to Bolur.
The MLA for Mangaluru City South, D. Vedavyas Kamath, Commissioner of Police P.S. Harsha and other officers convinced them to allow the cremation.
“The resistance is because of awareness among people that burial or cremation of COVID-19 positive person will not spread the disease. The guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Union government have made it clear. Steps need to be taken to clear the misconceptions,” said senior physician Srinivas Kakkilaya.
