Body handed over to kin after 17 hrs

You may die fighting the time taking and complicated red tape.

Nearly 17 hours after the death of Ravindra Yadav, 39, killed in Saturday’s firing at Madhubani district, his body was finally handed over to the family after post-mortem examination at the PMCH here on Sunday afternoon.

The handing over of the body to the brother of the deceased at 3.25pm on Sunday was preceded by some suspense, as the administration initially tried to persuade Yadav’s kin to cremate the body in the state capital itself.

The government was clearly apprehensive that, allowing the family to take Yadav’s body to Madhubani for cremation was fraught with administrative risk, as it could again stoke public passion and anger against the police.

But bolstered by support from former RJD MP Vijay Krishna, who arrived at the PMCH, the family stood firm on taking Yadav’s body to Madhubani for cremation. Not taking any chances, the district administration arranged for an air-conditioned ambulance and ice slabs, with requests to the district administration Vaishali and Muzaffarpur to keep ice slabs on stand-by.

District magistrate, Patna, Sanjay Kumar Singh, who was camping at the PMCH for around three hours till the post-mortem examination was conducted, told HT: “The slight delay in handing over the body to the relatives was because being Sunday I had to personally go and request the chief judicial magistrate to depute a judicial magistrate for the purpose. Once he came, the process was expedited. I was at the PMCH precisely to cut the time lag.”

Ravindra was killed at Jainagar as the Madhubani violence spread to adjoining towns on Saturday. He had succumbed on way to the PMCH, where he was declared brought dead at around 10.20pm on Saturday.