In a major goof up in a civic-run hospital in Ahmedabad in Gujarat, the corpse of a Muslim woman was handed over to the kin of a Dalit woman who was stabbed to death in Bavla town on May 8.
The issue came to light Friday morning after relatives of the Muslim woman, identified as Nasrin Banu, arrived at Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation-run V S Hospital and realised she had been the subject of morgue mix-up.
According to hospital authorities, a staff at the hospital's morgue handed over Banu's corpse thinking it was that of Mittal Jadhav when the latter's kin arrived on Thursday.
Mittal Jadhav (19) was stabbed multiple times on Wednesday in Bavla town by one Ketan Vaghela and two others.
For Banu's family, it was too late to set things right as Jadhav's family had carried out funerary rituals and buried the body on Friday morning.
In Gujarat, Dalits usually opt for burial, and not cremation, if the deceased is an unmarried woman.
After the swap came to light, Banu's body was exhumed in the presence of officials and sent back to V S Hospital, said Deputy Superintendent of Police, Baldevsinh Vaghela.
V S Hospital Superintendent Manish Patel blamed the morgue attendant as well Jadhav's family for the episode.
"Both the bodies, which came to the hospital on Thursday afternoon, were kept side by side in the cold storage room. Relatives of both the deceased women told us they will collect the bodies later. Mittal's family members came in the night and took Nasrin Banu's corpse by mistake," said Patel.
"The cold storage room staff took Mittal's kin for the identification of the body before handing it over. Despite that, something like this has happened. It seems the staff as well as Mittal's kin are at fault for failing to identify the corpse correctly," Patel said.
He said the police was informed and the body was exhumed in Bavla town in the presence of the Sub Divisional Magistrate.
Deputy Superintendent Vaghela said Mittal's kin had reached V S Hospital to claim her body.
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