Rajasthan couple locked up in mortuary with son's body

A hospital peon was suspended after he locked a tribal couple along with their son's body in a mortuary for nearly three hours in Pratapgarh district of Rajasthan.
The couple's son was admitted at government hospital in Pratapgarh in critical condition on Saturday and eventually died in the wee hours on Sunday.
The body was sent to the morgue for post-mortem, which was to be conducted in the morning, but his wailing mother refused to part with her child and the impatient peon Ram Pratap Dhobi locked them inside and went to sleep.
Chhotu, a 10-year-old boy in Haro village under Peepal Khoont police station had fallen from a tree while playing and was severely injured.

His parents rushed him to the civil hospital at district headquarters but the child died past midnight.
The doctors on duty sent the body to the mortuary for autopsy around 4 am.

The child's parents Ramesh Meena and Rakmi followed them and when the peon asked them to go out so that he could lock the door, the mother refused to leave the child's body.
The peon let them stay inside and locked the door and went away.
Around 7.30 am when authorities were informed of the incident, they quickly unlocked the couple who were then allowed to take the body without post-mortem.

The chief medical and health officer (CMHO) constituted a committee and directed it to submit a report on the incident.
"It is neither advisable nor permissible that any living person be locked inside the mortuary under any circumstances. If the couple was not ready to leave the body, the employee should have reported the matter to his seniors. We have suspended the employee and put him on awaited posting order (APO)," CMHO Dr Radhey Shyam Kachhawa said.