Meghnagar (Madhya Pradesh): Jhabua police have booked more than half-a-dozen family members of deceased for the dismemberment of corpses after they prevented the last rites for five days seeking ëmautana,í or compensation for death from a bus owner.
Kin of deceased staged a protest holding a bus driver, agent and owner responsible for the death of their family member in a road accident on January 18.
The bus owner filed a police complaint on Sunday. The cops intervened in the matter and oversaw the cremation of the body. Police brought the bus to Kakanwani police station.
The entire episode began on January 18 when 27-year-old Sabir, son of Dudha Damore, a resident of Vatta village died after an unidentified vehicle crushed him to death. The accident took place near Vadodara, Gujarat. On the next day, the kin of the deceased brought the body to their native place. They were seeking compensation for death holding a private bus owner in Kakanwani responsible for the accident. They took control over a bus after thrashing the driver and cleaner and started protesting keeping a body inside the bus, alleged the bus owner.
The bus owner alleged that his bus with registration number GJ 20 V 6292 plies between Kakanwani and Surat and it was not involved in any accident, so he refused to fulfill the demands of Sabirís kin.
Mautana is a tribal system to provide justice to the victimís family by the family of the one who is considered to be responsible for the death, police initially decided to stay away from the case as their intervention could disturb law and order in the area. Police decided to give sufficient time to both the parties anticipating a resolution of the matter.
After five days the odour of the body started making the people uneasy. The bus owner, agent, and driver had also complained to the police saying that the deceased kin extorted money for a crime that he or his driver did not commit.
Locals alleged that the Kakanwani police had informed the Jhabua superintendent of police about this matter, but neither the dead body was taken out of the bus for cremation nor immediate action was taken against those who did such an act.
Police registered a case, on January 22, against half a dozen people for hijacking a bus and dismemberment of corpses.
On the very day the police got the body removed from the bus and directed the villagers to perform its last rites. The last rites were performed on Sunday. The police have taken the bus to the Kakanwani police station.
When contacted the Kakanwani police station in-charge Hirusinh Rawat saying that 6 to 7 people have been booked under the relevant section of mistreating a dead body and assault and they will be arrested soon.
Sub-divisional officer (police) Manohar Singh Gawli condemned the entire incident saying. He said the accident took place in Gujarat, but the people are holding someone from the town responsible for the death.
Mautana
Mautana, or compensation for death, is a tribal system to provide justice to the victimís family by the family of the one who is held to be responsible for the death. It was devised to provide justice to the family of the victim in cases of an ëunnaturalí death. However, in many cases, kin of the deceased use it as a means to extract money on the death of their loved one.
