MADHEPURA/PATNA: Even as the nation has of late been debating “for” and “against” the rights of SCs/ STs, a section of this extremely marginalized community in a Bihar village are burying their dead in the backyard of their homes for want of a burning ghat in the village.One such instance came to light earlier this week after Sohaniya Devi, wife of landless daily wager Harinarayan Rishidev of Dighiya Tola in Kewatgama village under Madhepura district’s Kumarkhand block, died of diarrhoea on Sunday. Harinarayan had to bury her corpse behind his house on Wednesday.Though burial is not part of Hindu tradition, locals claimed Kewatgama’s Musahars, also known as Rishideos, were earlier burying their dead kin on the banks of Balwaha river flowing along the village as they could not afford to buy wood etc required for cremation. At times, they even immerse the dead bodies into the river.Harinarayan, however, says the ‘dabbangs’ (musclemen) of the village now do not allow Musahars to use the banks of the river for the last rites. “They have started farming on the land,” he told newsmen on Wednesday as he explained why he buried his wife in his backyard.The Yadav-dominated village doesn’t have a burning ghat even for use by Yadavs. Since they own farmlands, they cremate their dead kin in fields.The 200-odd Rishidev families of the village are, however, landless and earn a living by working as farm workers on daily wages. These families have been allotted three decimal residential land each by the state government.Former mukhiya Bechan Rishideo says burial is not the norm in his community. “But poor families opt for burial due to the cost involved in cremation,” he said on Thursday.Villager Yogendra Rishideo has been cremating his dead family members — in the backyard of his house. “Lash jalawe lel koi jagah nai chhai (There’s no space for the cremation of our dead ones),” said Yogendra, a former ward councillor.Now that the burial of Harinarayan’s wife has made headlines in a section of the media, the administration has swung into action to arrange a piece of land where the Kewatgama villagers could perform the last rites of their dead ones as per Hindu tradition.Madhepura SDO Brinda Lal, who visited Dighiya Tola on Wednesday, told this newspaper on Thursday he had directed the circle officer to identify a piece of land near the river within a week to serve as the cremation ghat. “We will construct a boundary wall around it,” he said and added Harinarayan’s wife was buried in a ‘khatal’ (cowshed), 40 feet away from his dwelling.Though Rita Devi, mukhiya of Luxmipur-Chandisthan under which Kewatgama falls, claimed to have given Rs 3,000 under the Kabir Antyeshti Scheme to Harinarayan after she came to know about the burial, former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi , a Musahar, recalled his father was also forced to bury his grandfather’s body years ago because he didn’t have money to buy logs for cremation.Manjhi, who is founder president of Hindustani Awam Morcha, said his party would send a fact-finding team to the village. “Harinarayan might not have been given monetary aid for last rites by the panchayat in time,” he said.

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