BENGALURU: The family of Talagattapura police inspector Ramappa Gutther was in a joyous mood to celebrate Gowri-Ganesha festival. But little did they know that Ramappa was performing the last rites of a five-year-old girl who died after she was sexually assaulted. Moved by the plight of the mother of the deceased child, who could not even afford the expenses for the cremation, the Talagattapura police officials came to her aid.
After the police received news about the girl’s death at St John’s hospital on Friday night, they shifted the body for post-mortem and returned to the hospital on Saturday morning. The hospital bill had run up to `1.7 lakh and the child’s mother was not in a state to pay up and get the body. When Ramappa realised this, he sought help from a private firm which agreed to pay the money and the body was released. But the woman’s agonies did not end there.
She was in no position to even take the body to the crematorium and expressed her helplessness to the police. Taking pity, Ramappa and his staff took her along and shifted the body in a hearse from St John’s hospital to Banashankari crematorium. They also pooled in money from their pockets to pay for the crematorium and hearse van. Police also sought help of a NGO which gave `10,000 to the woman. When the crematorium staff asked the woman if there was anyone from the family to conduct the last rites, she could only grieve as there was nobody. Ramappa, who was watching the events unfold, then offered to perform the last rites.
A police officer said, “The father of the child died four months ago. When the crematorium staff asked the woman to get a male family member to perform final rites, she broke down. Ramappa, who was at the spot, consoled her and performed the final rites.” Ramappa told Express, “It was all done with the help of the staff. As per the request of the mother, I performed the last rites of the child as per Hindu rituals. We were also pained by her state.” Asked whether his family knew about this, he said, “My family doesn’t know about it. They were expecting me to join the festivities.”