Malappuram: Rights panel orders probe

Malappuram: The Kerala State Human Rights Commission  on Monday ordered a  probe into the transport of the body of a woman  in the boot of a car to Maharashtra from the Government Medical College Hospital, Manjeri, on Saturday.   The rights panel  asked the Malappuram district collector and the superintendent of the MCH to submit the report within three weeks. The commission took up the case suo motu   after the local media reported the alleged inhuman  incident.

Reports said that the husband of the woman resorted to the action as he had no money to hire  an ambulance.  The deceased Chandrakala, 48,  was from Dadar district of Karnataka and was initially undergoing treatment for cancer at a hospital at Kottakkal.  Later she was taken to Manjeri Medical College Hospital after her condition worsened and she died on March 15. Chandrakala's husband, who was from Maharashtra, approached some private ambulance operators, but they demanded  Rs 45, 000 as charges which he couldn't afford. He then called in a car from his native place to Manjeri and stuffed the body in its boot and returned on Saturday. He also reportedly tried to raise money for the ambulance but didn't succeed.

The Manjeri police, who gave the no- objection certificate to transport the body out of the state, said that the man had not sought their help to transport the body or divulged  the mode of transportation. The NOC was given as it was a natural death, said Manjeri inspector N.B Biju. The medical college authorities said that the man had not sought assistance to transport the body.