Bharatpur: A case of negligence by local civic authorities surfaced from Rajasthan's Bharatpur, where a power outage at a cremation ground forced family members of an elderly man to perform his last rites using the headlights of cars for illumination. The incident was captured on social media, and the video soon went viral on social media.
The absence of basic lighting facilities at the cremation ground caused distress to the family members. The deceased has been identified as 70-year-old Ashok Kumar.
Video Of The Incident:
When the deceased's family reached the cremation ground at around 7 pm, it was reportedly deserted and shrouded in darkness. Kumar's son Vishal said that the streetlights at the crematorium were off and there was no caretaker present, reported Navbharat Times.
As per the report, left with no other option, the family parked their vehicles near the pyre and used their headlights to illuminate the area, finally completing the funeral rites after about two hours of struggle.
Responding to the incident, the Municipal Commissioner said that the power cut occurred due to a fault in the electricity line, reported NDTV Rajasthan. He further claimed that the issue was addressed immediately after officials were informed and the lighting system was restored.
Netizens' Reaction:
Reacting to the viral video, some netizens pointed out that in Sanatan Dharma, last rites are not performed after sunset.
"Suryast ke baad antim sanskar nahi hota (Last rites cannot be performed after sunset)," an X user commented.
"But in Sanatan Dharma, they do not perform the last rites after sunset. Then why after sunset?" another X user wrote.
However, one of the X users claimed that in Bharatpur, performing last rites is a common practice.
This is not the first such incident. Just a month ago, the funeral of a man, named Jagdish Prasad Singhal, also had to be performed in torch light. As per the Navbharat Times report, at that time, the municipal commissioner apologised and promised to improve the situation, but yesterday's incident proved that those promises have gone up in smoke.
