Aged
Bengali Widows don’t get release from birth-death cycle.
Dead
bodies cut to pieces and abandoned in bags into river Yamuna.
District
administration wakes up to strict directions of Supreme Court, constitutes team
for investigation.
Sunil
Sharma
The
aged Bengali widows, coming to Vrindaban with a wish of residing in Lord
Krishna’s place and to get release from the cycle of birth & death, don’t even
get the last rituals due for a human in any civilization and it is such a hair
raising tale to have heard about the fate of the dead bodies. There is
increasing number of deaths of aged people in bone shivering cold weather and
the aged Bengali widows residing in Vrindaban are also affected of the same.
The corpses remain lying besides the roads after death of these widows. After
being decomposed they are cut to pieces and carried in garbage carriers by the
cleaners to abandon near the banks of river Yamuna. Those widows don’t get to
know the fate of their bodies after their death that come with belief of getting
release from the cycle of birth & death. The district magistrate, having
been informed of the matter, constituted a three member committee for
investigation. The chief development officer has been nominated as head of this
investigating team.
The
aged Bengali widows in Vrindaban are in such a pity state that in past they
used to reside in the corridors of old temples and damp cells. With ever
increasing rates of land they are losing these shelters also and are compelled
to spend their remaining part of life on edges of the roads and pedestrian
lanes. These aged women neither get cloth nor the woods for cremation after
death. The cleaner cuts the body lying on road side into pieces and packs in
bags to abandon near river Yamuna where stray dogs feed on the decaying bodies.
Though Vrindaban is known as a religious city but the in-human state of these
widows does not invite attention of any religious preachers to initiate build
any system for last rites of these aged widows who come here with wish of serving
the Lord.
One
group of faithful women on their visit to Vrindaban has witnessed the incidents
and has collected records of the same. The group of faithful women has seen the
pity state of aged Bengali widows in Vrindaban and Radha kund and got published
the facts in reputed English daily. On taking note of the news of that paper
the honourable judge Altmas Kabir of Supreme Court has called explanation from
the government. The evidences recorded by the faithful women have exposed the
in-human act on the hundreds of aged Bengali widows residing in Mathura,
Vrindaban and Radha Kund. After the death of aged widows in old age homes and
shelter houses, the cleaners dispose the dead bodies in un-habited places on
the banks of Yamuna after cutting them into pieces and packing in bags.
The
senior judge immediately ordered the National Judicial Services Authority for
investigation which has been forwarded to the State Judicial Services Authority
of U.P. The secretary of the State Judicial Services Authority of U.P. has
ordered the then district judge Virendra Bahadur Yadav for in depth
investigation of the matter. The district judge has promptly constituted a nine
member team under the leadership of Ms. Sapna Tripathi, secretary, District
Judicial Services Authority. The team members have interviewed hundreds of
widows for three months, and finalized a 20 point document based on the
interview including detailed information related to about 450 widows from
Vrindaban and 30 widows from Radha Kund.
The
investigating committee has recorded the video of conversation with the widows
which revealed the facts about how the dead bodies have been dealt with after
death of the aged widows. The investigating committee when enquired from the
managers of the shelter houses, they expressed the lack of funds for performing
the due last rites, due to which such in-human acts are being done.
The
honorable Supreme Court, taking the matter seriously, on 29th
December 2011 has directed Chief Secretary Mr. Sadakant of the Department of Social
Welfare, Women Welfare and Child Development and Nutrition of the state, who in
turn directed Joint Secretary Mr. S. K. Singh to visit the Mathura-Vrindaban
region at the earliest and consult the Judicial Magistrate and District
Magistrate and submit the report to the government by 30th January.
In the meantime it was communicated to Mr. S. K. Singh about the seriousness of
the government to initiate effective actions to address the issue urgently.
The
District Magistrate N. G. Ravikumar, taking the note of this important issue,
has constituted a team lead by Chief Development Officer S. Mathu Shalini,
including Vice-Chairman of Development Authority Mr. V. K. Pawar and ADM
(Finance) Mr. Manmohan Chaudhary. The investigating team is supposed to conduct
the investigation urgently and submit their report to the District Magistrate.
Sunil
Sharma,
Mathura.
09319225654
