'Death doesn't make us sad, neglect of the dead does'

Staff performs last rites for deceased who don't have a family to mourn for them

Once a pyre has been lit, close ones of the dead in India generally wait beside the burning body for around an hour before leaving the crematorium for the homes. At a crematorium in west Delhi, even the unidentified corpses receive this last mark of respect.

Such bodies usually have no family or friends to even mourn their deaths. They are brought to crematoriums either by police or non-governmental organisations. At best, two or three persons accompany the body during its last rites.

“Policemen who have brought the body usually wait by the burning pyre for half-an-hour. I have seen a few of them even stand for an entire hour,” says Deepak Sharma, one of about a dozen men performing last rites for the deceased brought to Punjabi Bagh Shamshan Bhoomi.

Sharma and his colleagues step in during such situations so that the dead leave with “full dignity”. At least half a dozen of them stand surrounding those lit corpses which have none of their own to mourn. They stand for an entire hour.

It is an unspoken practice, not mandatory though, which has been in place at this crematorium for years. “Sometimes even relatives accompanying another corpse join us in this practice when they see there are very few of us,” says Sharma’s colleague Rakesh Kumar.

The crematorium staff mourning for those dead people without families is not uncommon. Just over a week ago, some of them had tears in their eyes when they saw an old dead man accompanied only by his son and daughter-in-law. “The death does not make us emotional as much as the neglect of the dead does,” says Kumar.

The men at this crematorium also ensure that the lesser fortunate ones are not denied another religious formality either. “There is a tradition that the relatives of the dead return a day or two later to collect the last remains (ashes). Our men perform this ritual for those without a family,” says Kuldeep Singh Channa, a social worker who has been running the crematorium on behalf of the civic agencies.

The ashes of the unidentified or the desolate are then collected by an organisation that periodically sends its people to the crematorium. They are then strewn in the Ganges at Haridwar.

While the entire cost of a cremation in Delhi generally comes up to between Rs 4,000 and 6,000, this crematorium does not deny it to those without money or family. “The entire cost of cremation, ranging from wood to shroud,” says Channa.

All dead children below the age of 10 are cremated free of cost. So are the aged men and women brought by old age homes and NGOs. “Police from their funds bring the shroud and some necessary items for the unidentified bodies. We pay for everything else,” says Channa, adding that contribution by the general public has kept the crematorium providing for those without any money.

When an Assamese maid committed suicide in Kirti Nagar in July this year and her family apparently refused to come and collect her body, it was Channa who had offered to cremate her free of cost.

Channa, who also unsuccessfully contested the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections from Moti Nagar constituency as an Aam Aadmi Party candidate, says his mother’s death in 1996 led him to take up this “service”.

“It was raining heavily on the day my mother passed away. There was a broken shed where we cremated her with great difficulty. It was thenceforth that I decided to take up the responsibility of according all the dignity to the deceased,” says Channa who earns his living from a water pump shop.

He claims to visit the fairly huge crematorium every morning to ensure the place is spick and span and to keep a check on those working there so that they do not indulge in emotional blackmail of relatives of the dead for money. “If any corpse is brought in my presence, I stand there till everyone leaves to ensure full respect is given to the dead,” he says.

There are no restriction on class, caste and religion while providing free cremation and Channa says his aim is to treat all the dead equally there. But of the 64 cremation platforms here, at least four are marked for VIPs. They are at a higher platform. Channa says they are meant for security forces and “social workers”.

On an average, about two dozen are brought everyday to this crematorium from all parts of west and north-west Delhi. Channa says free cremation is provided to two or three people daily.

The number of bodies, mostly unidentified, brought by police is limited to two-three every month. Sharma says this number was much higher till two years ago when the electric crematorium too was functional there. “The electric crematorium is being converted into a CNG one. Police prefer electric crematoriums,” says Sharma.

Channa’s responsibilities are not limited to providing free services to the needy and merely running the crematorium in order. It requires taking some tough decisions too.

“If any corpse is unaccompanied by necessary documents and identity proofs, we refuse to go ahead with the cremation, whatever condition the body might be in. The same with any young people,” he says.

Two years ago, some men had insisted to cremate a 20-year-old girl at this crematorium without providing any proofs. “I was informed. I called police and the body was sent for autopsy,” says Channa. It turned out to be a murder, he says.