Bihar couple begs to pay Rs 50,000 bribe to hospital for son's body

In a shocking incident, a poor couple in Bihar's Samastipur was allegedly forced to beg to collect Rs 50,000 as bribe to get their son’s body released from a government hospital.

The elderly couple claimed that they were forced to do the same after an employee of Sadar Hospital asked them to pay Rs 50,000 to release the son’s body.

However, Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Vinay Kumar Rai said that a preliminary investigation conducted by him revealed that the allegations are wrong, news agency ANI reported. “Action will be taken if any employee is found guilty,” he added.

The deceased’s father Mahesh Thakur said, “Some time ago my son had gone missing. Now, we’ve received a call that my son’s body is at Sadar Hospital in Samastipur. A hospital employee has asked for Rs 50,000 to release my son’s body. We are poor people, how can we pay this amount?"

Samastipur, Bihar  Parents of a youth beg to collect money to get the mortal remains of their son released from Sadar Hospital after a hospital employee allegedly asked for Rs 50,000 to release the body pic.twitter.com/rezk7p6FyG

— ANI (@ANI) June 8, 2022

Meanwhile, Bihar Health Minister, Mangal Pandey, said action will be taken based on the investigation report.   

Earlier, Samastipur civil surgeon Dr S.K. Chaudhary said, "We have learnt from the mediapersons about the demand of Rs 50,000 from a parent to release the body. Such an act is against humanity. We have initiated action against the alleged employee of the post-mortem house."

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What’s the case?

Mahesh Thakur is a native of Kasbe Ahar village under Tajpur police station. His mentally unstable son had gone missing since May 25 this year.

On June 7, a body was recovered from an area under the Musrigharari police station. The police recovered the unidentified body and sent it for post-mortem.

As the missing complaint was registered in the Tajpur police station, local police contacted Mahesh Thakur to identify the body. When he reached the post-mortem house, the employees initially refused to show the body. When they repeatedly requested the employees, they allowed them to identify the body in the mortuary.

When Mahesh identified the body as that of his son, the employees present at the mortuary demanded Rs 50,000 to release it.

When Mahesh`s pleadings did not move their hearts, he and his wife went to the nearby localities and begged for money. They were seen knocking on the doors to collect money. A video in this regard went viral on social media.

After the viral video was reported to Chaudhary, he intervened and handed over the body to the hapless parents.

(With agencies inputs)