GUNA: A family in Madhya Pradesh’s Guna was forced to perform the post-death rituals of a 31-year-old woman in the open of a district hospital mortuary on Saturday after their landlord allegedly refused to allow her body into their rented house, citing the Navratri festival.
Pooja Rajak, a native of Shivpuri district, died at Guna district hospital during treatment after battling cancer for a long time. She is survived by two daughters and a son.
Pooja's father, Pehalwan Rajak, faced the painful ordeal of arranging her last rites despite a severe financial crunch and the lack of a permanent home. The family had been residing in a rented accommodation in the Ghosipura area of Guna for the last four years.
Pehalwan said as they planned to take Pooja's body home, the landlord asked them against doing so, citing the ongoing religious rituals of Navratri. Keeping that in mind, the grieving family decided not to object to the landlord's request.
According to her father, Pooja was estranged from her husband, Rakesh Lashkari, a resident of Indore, following a domestic dispute after her health deteriorated. She had left her matrimonial home and had been living with her parents in Guna over the past few years.
As the family struggled to arrange the final farewell, social worker Pramod Bhargava and cow-protection volunteer Ram Singh Rajak stepped in to offer assistance. With their support, the family completed the customary rituals for a married woman in the open courtyard near the hospital mortuary before shifting the body to the cremation ground.
Upon receiving news of her demise, Lashkari and his second wife arrived from Indore, and the husband joined the final rituals conducted at the hospital courtyard.
(With inputs from PTI)
