Video of man carrying body of his 11-year-old 'Covid-positive' daughter in Jalandhar goes viral

Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, May 15

Hours after the video of a man carrying the body of his 11-year-old "coronavirus positive" daughter on his shoulders and walking on a road in Jalandhar's Ram Nagar went viral, the district administration said the girl did not die due to the virus.

Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori ordered a probe into the whole incident and said it was found that the minor did not succumb to Covid-19.

Dilip, father of deceased Sonu, on Saturday interacted with the media and shared that his daughter was ill for the past nearly two months with symptoms of indigestion.

He said on someone’s recommendation, he took her to Amritsar for her treatment where the doctors told that her Covid-19 report had come positive but she passed away on Sunday last.

He said the video dates back on Monday last when he returned with the body and went to the cremation ground with his son to perform her last rites.

Asked as to why no one including the authorities came forward for the last rites of his daughter, Dilip said, “I am an illiterate, poor man. I do not know anything about the protocol. I had no time to contact anyone including the area councillor or the MLA. No one came forward for help from the area owing to the coronavirus positive report.”

He shared his grief, “A Class IV employee of the Amritsar hospital just wrapped her body in the sheet on which she was lying and handed it over to me. I was just given her death certificate but no PPE kits. I cremated her without any protective gear as I was not aware of any such measures to be taken. I took Rs 1,000 financial help from someone in my area, bought the wood and went along with my son for her last rites.” 

However, Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori ordered a probe into the whole incident and said it was found that the minor did not succumb to Covid-19.

Divulging the details, the DC said as per inquiry report conducted by the Sub Divisional Magistrate, the cause of death was not Covid-19.

He added that the girl was admitted in Jalandhar Civil Hospital from where she was referred to Amritsar Medical college.

An ambulance carried the patient to Amritsar, where she remained admitted in the surgical ward. After the death, an ambulance again dropped the dead body back in Jalandhar at their house.

Pointing out further, Covid Patient Tracking Officer (CPTO) Navneet Kaur Bal said that no one in the family or anyone in the area came forward to seek help in the cremation.

She said that in normal cases (other than Covid-19 deaths), once the dead body is handed over to family, they take care of the last rites, however, in present case no one approached her for the help in cremation.