While the last rites were carried out by a volunteer in Indore, Manoj Sharma’s wife attended the cremation through video-call from China.
The consent letter was obtained online from his wife, the police said. (Representational)
Indore:
As the second wave of the pandemic in India brings stories of devastation and heart-break, an Indian woman in China went through the most painful and traumatic process on Tuesday. She had to watch the cremation of her husband on video-call.
Manoj Sharma, who worked in a bank in China, was in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore to take care of an unwell relative. It was during this visit that the 40-year-old contracted COVID-19.
He died at Indore’s Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences on Monday.
A day later, his body was cremated in Indore with the consent of his family in China, the police said.
While the last rites were carried out by a volunteer, Mr Sharma’s wife attended it through video-call from China. The consent letter for the last rites was obtained online from his wife and a local social worker, Yash Parasher, consigned the body to flames, senior police officer Prashant Choubey told news agency PTI.
Heart-breaking visuals showed the woman – watching the cremation on a video-call – sobbing as Mr Sharma’s pyre was lit. Clips of the woman watching the cremation and of the cremation were circulated on social media.
Madhya Pradesh reported 12,727 COVID-19 cases and 77 deaths in the last 24 hours. The state has seen 4,713 Covid-linked deaths. A “corona curfew” has been imposed in capital Bhopal till April 26 due to the rising cases.