Police cremate Muslim youth, tension in Bareilly

Locals gathered at Sarai police outpost in Bareilly district to protest against the police officials who went ahead with the last rites of Muslim youth as per Hindu rituals.

According to a report published in Indian Express, the incident happened on August 21 (Friday), a disfigure body in his 20s, had reportedly been run over by a train was found on the railway tracks in Sarai.

When no one claimed the unidentified body, the police after the postmortem, sent it for cremation on Sunday morning without verifying the religion of the deceased.

In the meantime, a missing report has been lodged by one Sabban from Jakharia locality on Friday (the day the body was recovered).

Sabban said, his son, 22-year-old Arif had left home following a heated argument. When the photograph of the youth whose body was found on the tracks was shown, Sabban confirmed the youth was his son.

“We rushed to the cremation site with Arif’s family members where the last rites had begun. The process was stopped but nearly half of the body had been burnt by then. The family members protested and later gheraoed the Sarai outpost,” said Kamrul Hasan Khan, SHO of Qila police station where the missing complaint had been lodged.

Dharam Singh, Circle Officer, Bareilly city said the police “managed to douse the pyre”, and handed over the youth’s body in a half-burnt state to the family.

The doctors who had performed the postmortem did not mention in the report that the youth was a Muslim, claimed the SHO.

Senior officials assured the protesters that action would be taken against those responsible. However, no action had been initiated against any official until late Monday evening.