Balrampur: Municipal corporation workers heaving the body into the garbage van
Highlights
- The man had gone to a local government office where he collapsed
- The incident took place last evening in Balrampur district
- Balrampur's police chief called the incident "inhuman and insensitive"
A 42-year-old man who died on a road was dumped in the back of a garbage van and taken to the police station in an appalling display of insensitivity in an Uttar Pradesh town.
In videos shot on the mobile phone, the man is picked up by three municipal workers and bundled into the garbage van as policemen watch. The incident took place last evening in Balrampur district, around 160 km from Lucknow. Four policemen and four municipal corporation workers have been suspended after the mobile clips surfaced.
The video places an ambulance at the spot too but its staff allegedly refused to touch the body, fearing infection if the man had died of coronavirus.
Mohd Anwar, a resident of Balrampur, had gone to a local government office where he collapsed and died at the gates. Footage from the spot shows his body lying on the ground with a bottle of water next to it. Another clip shows police standing around the body and a garbage van in the frame. A third mobile phone clip shows three municipal corporation workers heaving the body into the garbage van.
Balrampur's police chief called the incident inhuman and insensitive.
"Because there is panic over the coronavirus pandemic, these people carried out an inhuman act of negligence. This is very wrong on the part of the police and the municipal corporation workers. Even if the person was a COVID-19 suspect he should have been handled with a PPE suit. I have ordered a senior government official to conduct an inquiry," Devranjan Verma told reporters on Thursday.
It is not clear yet how Mr Anwar died or whether he had coronavirus.