Indian man wakes on funeral pyre moments before it’s set alight

A man declared dead by doctors woke up on a funeral pyre in India. Photo / 123RF

An Indian man declared dead by doctors at a public hospital woke up on a funeral pyre moments before cremation.

Rohitash Kumar, a 25-year-old with speaking and hearing difficulties, developed a fever on Thursday afternoon. As his health deteriorated, he was taken to Rajkiya Bhagwan Das Khetan (BDK) District Hospital, Jhunjhunu, a city in the northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan.

An official at BDK hospital told the Telegraph that the doctors declared him dead and his body was moved to the deep freezer of the hospital’s mortuary. “As per the protocol, the body had to undergo post-mortem, but instead, it was released for cremation,” he said, pleading anonymity.

Kumar, who had been living in a shelter home for the past month, was taken by a social organisation to the cremation site. During the cremation ritual, when the body was on the pyre, the man started breathing heavily.

“He started moving his body. We were shocked and started running away,” said Subhash Poonia, an eyewitness. They realised the man was alive and he was taken back to hospital.

The incident has triggered public criticism, forcing the local administration to set up a committee to look into the conduct of the doctors.

Doctors suspended

The District Collector for Jhunjhunu, Ramavtar Meena, said the preliminary investigation revealed that the doctors had not conducted a post-mortem examination, which they were supposed to do. Instead, they completed the formalities on paper and sent the man straight for cremation.

“Pending inquiry, we have suspended the three doctors for gross misconduct and dereliction of their duties,” Meena said.

The suspended doctors have been identified as Yogesh Jhkhar, Navneet Meel and Sandeep Prachar.

Dr Dheeraj Maheshwari, a forensic expert, said, “In India’s peripheral areas, most doctors don’t even perform post-mortems, but still provide a cause of death certificate. Ultimately, the body is cremated, leaving no proof of whether a proper post-mortem was done or not.”

Lack of necessary autopsy training

He added that medical officers in India lack the necessary training to conduct autopsies.

“There is no standardisation or proper audits to ensure post-mortems are performed correctly,” he said.

“Inadequate post-mortem procedures are carried out in almost every public health centre and community health centre. This severely undermines the authenticity of conducting autopsies.

“The man was placed in a deep freezer, which induced a state of suspended animation. In this state, the body’s metabolic functions slow down significantly, making it difficult to detect signs of life or ascertain the exact cause of apparent death.”