New Delhi: Life for some has come to such a pass that they do not hesitate to make money and do business on dead bodies.
A team of broadcast journalists pursuing a report on allegations of corruption in allotting funeral pyres at one of Delhi's oldest cremation grounds was threatened and manhandled by goons allegedly at the behest of a politician. The team was shooting for at the Nigambodh Ghat, a cremation ground on the banks of Yamuna River.
A Right To Information (RTI) activist had recently filed a petition against the "corruption and irregularities" at cremation grounds. Activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal had written to the Central Vigilance Commission to look into the business of relevant authorities who had allegedly been allotting pyre platforms to influential people for a bribe.
Situated on the Ring Road near the historic Red Fort, the Nigambodh Ghat is considered the oldest and busiest of Hindu cremation grounds in Delhi with 50-60 pyres burning every day.
A broadcast journalist Mohammad Aquid and cameraperson Ramesh of state television Doordarshan were at the Nigambodh Ghat to investigate whether the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) that had outsourced the running of the ground had intervened to improve matters. Following an order of the Central Information Commissioner, the MCD had complained to the police, but it seemed no further action had been taken.
"While we were shooting, some people came out of the crematorium and turned hostile. One of them claimed to be on a politician's staff. He tried to snatch documents and camera from our team and threatened us with dire consequences if we pursued the story," Aquid said.
Even though a complaint was lodged by the team at the Kashmiri Gate police station, B.P. Gupta, Chairman, Arya Samaj, Lodhi Road, in-charge of the crematorium, said, "I am not aware of any such incident. There is no [such] system now. Sometimes influential people come and we cannot stop them from using the pyre platforms."
