Rats nibble at body in hospital, kin protest

Mukesh Tandon
Tribune News Service
Sonepat, February 18

Rats have reportedly nibbled at the body of a farmer who died at the Singhu border on Wednesday night after it was kept in the mortuary of the General Hospital here.

The shocking incident came to light on Thursday morning after family members of the deceased farmer found big injury marks on the eyes and feet, with blood oozing out of these injuries.

The family members created a ruckus in the hospital for negligence and demanded stringent action against the person responsible for negligence. The deceased was identified as Rajender Saroha, a 70-year-old farmer of Baiyanpur village in the district. Pradeep, son of the deceased, said his father had been visiting the protest site at Singhu regularly and had stayed at a protest site near Rasoi village for the past four days.

He said his father’s condition deteriorated on Wednesday night, after which they took him to the General Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

He said the body was kept in a freezer at the mortuary of the General Hospital. He said they spotted rat bite marks with blood oozing out when they arrived for postmortem examination on Thursday.

As local village residents and members of the Saroha khap came to know about the incident, they started protesting and demanded action against the employee responsible for negligence.

Dr Jaswant Singh Poonia, Civil Surgeon, and Dr Jaibhagwan, Principal Medical Officer, reached the mortuary and pacified the protesters. They assured them of action for the negligence.

Dr Jaibhagwan said an inquiry has been ordered.