Toddler trying to wake up dead mother at railway station in Bihar goes viral
PATNA: A baby plays with a shroud covering its dead mother at Muzaffarpur railway station in Bihar, in one of the most tragic visuals to emerge from the daily reports of migrants stranded by the coronavirus lockdown. a video of a toddler frantically trying to wake up his dead mother at railway station has gone viral on social media.
In the video, the toddler is seen pulling the shroud covering his mother to wake her up. The heartbreaking visual has evoked a massive reaction and empathy for the toddler. Widely shared clips on social media, the toddler tugs at the cloth placed over his mother’s body. The cloth comes off but his mother doesn’t move; she had died moments before. According to her family, she died of extreme heat, hunger and dehydration.
According to reports, 35-year-old Avreena Khatoon died en route to Katihar from Ahmedabad by a Shramik Special train via Muzaffarpur. She died when her health deteriorated allegedly due to hunger.
The body was pulled out from the train and kept on the platform till the arrival of an ambulance to take it to Katihar. When the body was lying covered with a sheet of cloth, the deceased’s minor son pulled it to wake up her presuming that she is asleep. Eyewitnesses said that the toddler continued for 5 minutes till one of the persons looking after the body stopped him.
Meanwhile, Muzaffarpur district administration issued a statement saying that woman was ill for the past three days and died of sickness. One of the deceased’s relatives, however, contradicted the statement alleging that she died of hunger and severe heat in the train.
At the same station, a two-year-old child also died, reportedly from heat on top of inadequate food. The child’s family had boarded a different train from Delhi on Sunday.
The woman, according to her family, had been unwell on the train because of the lack of food and water. She had taken a train from Ahmedabad, Gujarat on Saturday. On Monday, shortly before the train rolled into Muzaffarpur, she collapsed.
Meanwhile,the Railways Ministry says the woman had been unwell when she got on the train and the family got off at Muzaffarpur station when she died. The woman was heading to Katihar with her sister, sister’s husband and two children, said the ministry. “The woman’s family members have said she was already unwell. Request all not to spread fake news,” the railways tweeted.
Lakhs of migrant workers and their families were left to fend for themselves after India went into shutdown in late March. Without jobs or money, the migrants set out for their homes thousands of kilometres away, walking or on cycles, autos or trucks. Many died before they could reach home, either in road accidents or from hunger and exhaustion.
A recent home ministry order that stressed that no permission is needed from destination states to run the trains seems to have added to the chaos. Officials suspected that lack of coordination between the centre and states has worsened the arrangements on the trains and at stations.
(With Inputs From media Reports).
