After waiting for a couple of hours for a hearse van, the family hired a hand cart.
In yet another shocking incident, a family was forced to carry a young girl's dead body from the hospital on a hand cart. In Chattisgarh's Rajnandgaon, 75 km from Raipur, which happens to be Chief Minister Raman Singh's constituency, the girl's family alleged that they were refused a hearse van to take her dead body home in Bakhru Tola.
Their ordeal began on Sunday around 8 am when they brought the 17-year-old girl's burnt body to the district hospital after she had allegedly committed suicide.
At the hospital, which is about 60 km from their home, they were allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 750 for autopsy. When the family refused to pay the bribe, the procedure was delayed for hours.
Around 12 pm when the postmortem happened and it was time to take her home, the family allegedly wasn't provided an ambulance. They were told to wait by the staff.
After waiting for a couple of hours, the family decided to hire a hand cart. "Around 2.45 pm we took her body on a cart. When we reached Guru Nanak Chowk, the hospital administration came in a hearse van asked us to carry the body in it. But we refused," a family member said.
The relatives told the staff that they will collect money from the villagers and hire a car to take her body to Bakhru Tola.
After the visuals of the heart-wrenching incident were circulated, Congress workers protested against the hospital administration's apathy.
"We had asked the family to wait for some time as both the vehicles (available at the hospital) were busy. We released the body at 2.45 and they carried the body on a hand cart. We reached them at 3.15 pm, but they refused to avail the service," said District Collector Bhim Singh.
After gut-wrenching visuals of Dana Manjhi had raised anger and indignation across India last August, a string of similar incidents jolted the nation in the past few months.
Earlier this year, a man had to carry his 15-year-old's body first on his shoulders and then on a bike in Uttar Pradesh's Etawah as he wasn't provided any transport by the hospital to return home.
In March, the relatives of a woman were forced to carry her body home on their shoulders after being allegedly denied an ambulance at a government hospital in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district.
Last month, an Odisha man was forced to carry the body of his six-year-old son, who was bitten by a snake, on a trolley rickshaw.
In Kaushambi, Uttar Pradesh, a seven-month-old girl had to be carried home by her uncle on a bicycle after his plea for an ambulance went unheard.
The state governments have ordered health departments to ensure that the dead are treated with dignity and respect. However, the plight of the poor appears to be playing on an unending loop.