Shocking apathy in Modi’s India: Tribal man forced to take sister’s remains to bank for proof of death
Bhubaneswar: In a disturbing incident exposing systemic apathy in India under Modi, a tribal man, Jitu Munda, carried the skeletal remains of his deceased sister to a bank in Odisha’s Keonjhar district after being repeatedly denied access to her modest savings, estimated between Rs19,300 and Rs 20,000.
According to Kashmir Media Service, his sister, Kalra Munda, aged around 56, had died two months earlier. Jitu was unable to withdraw money from her account at an Odisha Grameen Bank branch because he could not produce a death certificate or legal heir documents. Being illiterate, he was unable to fulfill the requirements. He said bank officials insisted that the account holder must appear in person to authorize the withdrawal.
Frustrated and desperate, he exhumed his sister’s remains and walked nearly three kilometres to the Maliposi branch, placing the bones outside the bank to prove that his sister had died, an act that has sparked widespread outrage.
Following the incident, Patna police station in-charge Kiran Prasad Sahu reached the scene and said that Jitu Munda was unaware of legal procedures, while the bank staff also failed to properly guide him. Police later assured assistance to help him withdraw the money from his sister’s account. The remains were subsequently reburied in the presence of police.
Indian National Congress strong condemned the incident, stating that in a country where the government waives off debts worth lakhs of crores owed by the rich in the snap of a finger, poor people like Jitu are harassed to this extent for just Rs 19,000. It noted that the episode reflects the true state of the country, where the poor have no one to hear them and the system is entirely in the grip of the rich.
Congress spokesperson Nighat Abbass, in a post on X, described the incident as a deep stain on humanity and a stark proof of the system’s callousness, adding that it was shameful to have such a BJP-ruled system that waives off corporate debts worth millions of crores, yet denies even a poor person the right to live and die with dignity.
The Communist Party of India’s (CPI) Jayanta Das said the incident reflects a cruel picture of governance, calling it a stark example of systemic failure. “It is beyond imagination how desperate and helpless a person must become to take such an extreme step,” he said.
Calling the incident a cruel humiliation of a tribal labourer, Das said it raises serious questions about claims of a “Vikshit Bharat” (developed India) and “Vikshit Odisha.” He further noted that despite tribal representation at the highest levels of the Indian state, the ground reality for marginalized communities remains grim, with incidents like this exposing how governance systems fail the most vulnerable.
