Unsung COVID warriors in Silchar who cremated 60 bodies and the cruelty they face in society

It all started with the cremation of Narayan Mitra on July 16. A 70-year-old businessman who also happens to be the brother of CPI(M) district secretary, Dulal Mitra, succumbed after testing positive for COVID19. It was the first such case in Cachar where someone died with coronavirus infection in the body. The body was packed and left isolated. The family was not allowed to even see the face of the deceased for one last time. The protocols were so strict that the family did not get the diary kept in Narayan Mitra’s pocket despite pleading for it. The dead body packed with three different layers of plastic was treated as if it was a bomb waiting to explode.

A young group of individuals who identify themselves as “Rising Youth Society” rose up to take the responsibility of cremation. “The administration reached out to us and we being social worker could not say no,” says Pinak Roy president of the NGO.

The place where the cremation would take place, the norms that they’d need to follow and most importantly what would happen to them after they cremate the dead body. They had no answers to any of these questions. “It was not the time to think about all that. We had a job at hand, the team gathered and we were off,” recalls Roy.

The body was taken to a remote location in Cachar – Dima Hasao interdistrict border. The cremation was done. A lot has changed since then. The protocols are far more relaxed, the cremations are done in the Silchar Crematorium in Ambicapatty. Till September 6, they have cremated 60 individuals who died with Coronavirus infection in the body. It has been quite a journey, but the more they traveled, the more the society alienated them.

In the early days, Pinak Roy and the team realised that they cannot stay at home. “The moment people got to know that we are cremating COVID victims, they changed their attitude toward each of our members. No shop would sell us essential items, nobody would interact with our parents, sabjiwala, machwala, would not sell items at our homes,” informs Roy.

It has been more than one and a half months, Pinak and his team of nine social workers are staying at an administration rented hotel. “We stay in the same district. Some of us are stone throw distance away from our house yet we cannot meet our mothers or family members. If we even try to do so, the consequences could be dangerous,” fears Roy.

Recently, one of their team members went home to buy medicines for his ailing mother. 300 locals gathered with dao and rods to lynch him. The Circle officer had to rush to the spot with force and save him. “How dare you visit home when you cremate COVID victims!” the mob accused him. Not only villagers or people in remote areas, they even face the stigma in town too.

The cremation process of a body takes time, at one point in time, they were cremating four bodies in one night. “We could work during the night curfew,” informs Roy. Wearing PPE kits, they first place the woods on the pyre, then place the body and then eventually set it on fire and wait for a few hours. In the process, if they feel thirsty, nobody was willing to even sell them a bottle of water. “We pleaded that keep the bottle 100 mtr away and we will keep the money there. You leave and we will collect it from there, yet nobody sold us water or biscuit. Once one shopkeeper did and the next day, the locals conducted a ‘Khap Panchayat’ type probe (Bisar) to decide how the shopkeeper must be punished,” informs Roy.

The family members do not cooperate either. In some cases, the administration has allowed one member from the family to cremate the body yet hardly anyone ever turns up. A member of the NGO shared that once a 24-year-old newly-wed wife died and her husband was at the Samshan. “We offered him to do the cremation, but he refused,” exclaims the member of the NGO. He recalls the husband saying, “If I do the cremation, I will not be able to remarry for one whole year.” The husband has a young child too.

Many more such inhumane moments came in their way. The priests categorically refused to participate in the last rites. There are many mantras that are important to chant during the funeral, “We tried to arrange a priest but we could not, so, we turned to YouTube. We repeat the mantras that the priest says there and that is how we have been cremating bodies,” adds Roy. The team relies on YouTube and offers Puja every fourth day of cremation as per the Hindu rituals.

Their food and lodging are provided by the administration at the hotel. Meals are delivered in packets from time to time but they often skip their dinner as they are mostly at the Samshan and once they return, the food gets spoilt. “Now, the number of deaths has declined. After a very long time, today, we do not have a body to cremate,” says Roy.

However, he and his team cannot go home, as tomorrow is uncertain. At one time, the morgue was packed and the bodies were starting to get decayed. The staff at the morgue did not touch the bodies but the Rising Youth Society did. Carried them to the Ambulance and drove them to cremation. They accepted all of it as it was, for them, a social work.

Only time will tell if society accepts these social workers and ever treat them as normal human beings…

These are the unsung COVID warriors 

Pinak Roy

Rohan Roy

Dilwar Khan

Samsul Laskar

Rahul Roy-1

Rahul Roy-2

Rajdeep Barbhuiya

Bishwajit Roy

Mithun Roy