Bihar tragedy: Parents beg on streets as hospital demands ‘bribe’ to release son’s body

• Shubham
• 09 June, 2022

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By: Shubham Ghosh

IN a heart-wrenching incident, a couple in Samastipur in the northern Indian state of Bihar were found begging for money on the streets to get the mortal remains of their son released from a government hospital after one of its employees allegedly asked them for a bribe of Rupees 50,000 (£513) to hand over the body.

Mahesh Thakur, who was seen begging around in the city, said they are poor people and found it extremely difficult to arrange for the amount.

“Some time ago my son had gone missing. Now, we’ve received a call that my son’s body is at Sadar Hospital, Samastipur. A hospital employee has asked for Rs 50,000 to release my son’s body. We’re poor people, how can we pay this amount?” news reports quoted him as saying.

Videos and pictures of the couple begging soon became viral and the hospital authorities said they would take strict action against the guilty.

#Bihar:
In Samastipur,
parents are collecting donations for the post-mortem of the young son,
the post-mortem worker said bring 50 thousand
and take the son’s body. pic.twitter.com/vtsr79GDvv

— BroidNewsTV (@BroidNewsTV) June 9, 2022

A poor couple in #Bihar‘s Samastipur was forced to beg to collect Rs 50,000 as bribe for the mortuary staff of a government hospital to get the body of their dead son. IANS@bihar_police pic.twitter.com/RsGkjRr3Sg

— Siraj Noorani (@sirajnoorani) June 9, 2022

Samastipur civil surgeon Dr SK Chaudhary said action would certainly be initiated against the guilty.

Matter wrongly projected, says local administrator

However, News18 reported citing additional district magistrate Vinay Kumar Rai saying that an investigation was done into the matter and it was found that the matter was wrongly projected.

The official rubbished the reports of the couple begging and said it was an attempt to tarnish the image of the local administration.
According to him, the body was in police custody and it had to be released only after 72 hours had passed and the mortuary employees told the parents of the deceased that they would not be able to hand over the body even if they are paid Rs 50,000. He said the family misunderstood the statement.