70-Year-Old Woman's Body Left To Decompose Over Unfulfilled Mutton Feast Demand

In a distressing incident highlighting the callousness prevalent among humans, the body of an elderly woman was left unattended for three days after her community members refused to participate in her cremation. They demanded a mutton feast, which had been promised by the woman's elder son at the time of his marriage but was never fulfilled.

This incident took place in Jaybila village, located near the Similipal Wildlife Sanctuary in Mayurbhanj district, about 8 km from Baripada in Odisha. The deceased, identified as Sambhari Singh, 70, belonged to the tribal Mundari community, which makes up the majority of the village population. Reports indicate that she passed away due to age-related ailments at 2 pm on Saturday.

Despite her sons' efforts, neighbours and community members refused to participate in the cremation, citing the unfulfilled promise of a mutton feast at the time of the elder son's marriage. They claimed this was a "complete violation of community guidelines." Consequently, the sons were unable to cremate their mother's body, leaving it inside the house to decompose over three days, causing distress to her sons, Daktar and Chandan.

Upon learning of the situation, media personnel intervened and engaged with the villagers to resolve the issue. A village committee meeting was held, chaired by village head Sana Lakshman Singh. The committee demanded that Daktar provide them with 10 kg of mutton as a penalty for not fulfilling the feast promise at his marriages. Despite being married twice and having children from both marriages, Daktar failed to adhere to community norms by not serving feasts with mutton, despite repeated reminders from villagers.

Finally, under pressure from the villagers, Daktar agreed to their demand, and his mother's body was cremated on Monday afternoon. The villagers warned him that if he failed to serve them the feast, they would boycott the post-death rituals of the deceased.