Mistaken identity: Cops cremate Meo youth, kin cries foul

ALWAR: Bhiwadi police are facing the ire of residents and Meo Muslim groups after cops allegedly cremated a youth without proper identification.


The protesters staged a dharna outside Phool Bag police station late on Thursday night and demanded a strict action against errant cops. The police, however, claimed that they had waited for 72 hours for the decease's family to identify him but went ahead with post-mortem when family failed to confirm the identification.

The deceased has been identified as Irshad (33), a resident of Uton village of nearby Haryana . His body was recovered on Sunday from a pit by Bhiwadi police. The family claimed that they had gone to identify the body on Tuesday itself, but cops did not allow them to see the body.

"Family's allegations are not unfounded. The body was shown to them multiple times, but they could not identify him. After 72 hours had passed, we conducted the post-mortem and carried out the last rites," said SHO (Phool Bag), Ravindra Pratap Singh.

Sher Mohammad, head of a local Meo Muslim group, said that as per customs, Irshad should have been given a proper burial but due to the laxity of local cops, the deceased was cremated.

"We demand that a FIR should be registered against the police officials for their failure to carry out proper identification process," he said, adding that the police did not issue photographs of the body to the newspapers for information, instead cops threatened family members.

The family members claimed that Irshad was missing since November 5, and they learnt that a body was found in Bhiwadi. When they arrived in Bhiwadi for the identification process, the police shoed them away.