Grieving son forced to walk with mother's body as VIP drives through closed bridge

On a closed bridge over the Yamuna, where no vehicle was supposed to pass due to urgent repairs, a haunting image unfolded: a daily wager carries a stretcher with help of ambulance driver and medical staff, bearing his dead mother's body under the blazing June sun—because the rules, meant for all, were bent earlier that morning for a VIP's vehicle.

- BISWAJEET BANERJEE

This jarring episode occurred on Saturday, when Binda, a labourer from Tedha village, was returning home from Kanpur with the body of his 63-year-old mother, Shiv Devi, who had died during treatment. Around 9:30 AM, his ambulance was stopped at the barricades on the Sumerpur stretch of the Yamuna Bridge—shut since 6:10 AM for repairs. Despite pleading with the police and citing his circumstances, he was told rules were rules: no vehicle, not even one carrying a corpse, could be allowed.

But what stung most was what had transpired just hours earlier. At 6:44 AM—barely 34 minutes after the closure—security forces had made way for the car of a local BJP legislator, allegedly ferrying the MLA's ailing brother to Kanpur. The preferential treatment exposed a deep rot: regulations are strictly enforced for the voiceless, but are negotiable for those with influence.