A migrant worker's death, a family with no money to travel, and a funeral for an effigy

Indian Express

20 hours ago

When migrant worker Sitaram Yadav died at a railway station in Agra and his family back in Jharkhand's Giridih district didn't have the money to bring back his body, they did the next possible thing. They made a bamboo-and-straw effigy, dressed it in Sitaram's clothes, placed his photograph on it, and conducted last rites at the community cremation ground by the river.
Photos on social media of the unusual last rites, conducted in the Manduadih village in Giridih's Jamua block, showed the family saying their final goodbyes to the effigy of the 38-year-old migrant worker, who was working in Agra and was found dead at the city's railway station last week.
Sitaram's nephew Manoj said that the family got a call from the railway police at Agra last week informing them about the death under 'unknown circumstances'.
'The police informed us that we had one day to collect the body before it was sent for post-mortem and cremated locally. But we didn't have enough money to get there. Two men tried to go but lost their way while changing trains at Dhanbad and came back,' Manoj said.
The family then decided to follow the established local custom under such circumstances: using a bamboo effigy as a stand-in for the deceased.
'The ashes will be immersed in the Ganga after the 12-day mourning rituals,' Manoj said.
Sitaram is survived by his wife and three children. The ritual now done, the family is now demanding to know why the body could not be sent to Jharkhand.
On its part, the Government Railway Police claim that the force had asked someone in the family to come down to identify the body, even promising to 'arrange and pay for their return travel to Agra' but that 'they declined'.
Sitaram Yadav's body was found in a general coach of a train arriving from Ajmer, Jitendra Kumar, the Station House Officer of the GRP at Agra Fort railway station, said.
'The train guard alerted us that a man was lying unconscious in the general coach. The RPF personnel brought him down, and doctors confirmed he had already died,' Kumar said.
The post-mortem report cited lung disease as the cause of death, the official said. 'When we searched his belongings, we found a slip with a phone number… The relative who answered the call denied it was him from the WhatsApp photo we sent. The family later identified him from a tattoo on his hand,' he said, adding: 'Eventually, the cremation was conducted here in Agra'.
Shikha Lakra, head of the State Migrant Workers Control Room helpline under Jharkhand's labour department, said that Sitaram's body was cremated in Agra after the family denied knowing him.
'We had even been ready to arrange to bring it home, but the worker's nephew had said it wasn't their relative. Only later, after police pointed out a tattoo on the body, did they realise it was him,' she said.