Woman runs from pillar to post for husband’s death certificate

Responding to the complaint, Joint Collector A Mallikarjuna immediately spoke to the tehsildar on phone.
Woman runs from pillar to post for husband’s death certificate

KAKINADA: It is an endless wait for Manga Gonthi Devi to get the death certificate of her husband. She has been running from pillar to post for almost five months now for the certificate but both police and revenue officials have washed their hands off the issue.

Devi’s husband Vijay Kumar, a farm worker of Chendurthi in Gollaprolu mandal, was mowed down by an unidentified vehicle on the NH 16 on the night of July 3, 2018. Gollaprolu police registered a hit-and-run case. Police gave the deceased an ‘unknown’ person tag.

Devi who went to the local police station after her husband did not return home, visited the hospital mortuary where the body of the ‘unknown’ person was kept. “Based on the clothes on the body, I identified it as that of my husband,” Devi told TNIE on Monday. Vijay Kumar is survived by Devi and daughters Ganga Savitri (12) and Durga Bhavani (4).

On the advice of her neighbours, she visited the local revenue office to claim insurance under the Chandranna Bima scheme. The revenue officials insisted that she submit a copy of the FIR to claim insurance.  

For Devi, the problem began when the police gave her a copy of the FIR, which categorised the body of Vijayu Kumar as ‘Unknown’. The revenue officials did not accept the FIR. When she went back to the police urging them to rectify the mistake and name the victim, they told her that in the first place the FIR was not made on her request.

“They told me that they had sent samples to a lab for DNA test and made me wait for six months,’’ she said and alleged that the police misled her as she was illiterate.

With no where to go, Devi along with Thotapalli sarpanch K Ganga Raju on Monday came to Kakinada to submit a petition at the Grievance Cell where she was spotted by the TNIE. “I have neither the support of my family members nor government,’’ she told TNIE.

Responding to the complaint, Joint Collector A Mallikarjuna immediately spoke to the tehsildar on phone.

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