Pandit’s body cremated by mistake

Aug 03, 2012 News

-relatives begged for Pandit’s ghee to do second cremation

They were about the same age, their names were almost similar, See Persaud and Harry Narine Persaud, and they bore an uncanny resemblance, so there was bound to be some confusion after both their bodies were placed in the same morgue on the Essequibo Coast.
But no one expected that the confusion would lead to the relatives of one of two dead Essequibians

Harry Persaud

cremating the wrong corpse.
This happened earlier this week, and the mix-up was only discovered when the relatives of Pandit Harry Narine Persaud, 83, turned up at the Suddie Funeral Parlour to prepare him for his final rites only to learn that the body they were being given was that of another Essequibian, 77-year-old See Persaud.
As it turned out Pandit Harry Narine Persaud was mistakenly cremated a few days earlier at Reliance, Essequibo Coast, by See Persaud’s relatives.
A relative of See Persaud said that although six family members were at the Suddie Funeral Parlor to identify his body, no one at the time realized that they were given the wrong corpse.
Strange enough, they uplifted the wrong corpse, and stranger still, they bathed it and then transported it to their Reliance home, in preparation of the cremation.
Still no one recognized that it was the wrong corpse.
Kowshal Persaud, one of See Persaud’s sons, is however casting blame on the authorities at the Suddie Funeral home.
He maintained that all corpses should carry a tag.
Persaud told this newspaper that on Wednesday, he and six other family members went at the Suddie Funeral Parlor to uplift the body of his father, See Persaud.
He explained that whilst at the parlour, a female supervisor directed him to a corpse on a stretcher which she claimed was his father. That was Pandit Persaud’s body.
He said after he had examined the pandit’s corpse which was shown to him by the supervisor, he told the woman the dead was not his.
However, he was shown another corpse (his real father), but he still settled for the wrong body.

See Persaud

The relative said that See Persaud bore a striking resemblance to the Pandit and the mistake was regrettable.
“We wouldn’t want this to happen to any other family. We are grieving.”
The family member said although they have already incurred financial strains to cremate the wrong person, as a family they would have to come to muster more resources to prepare for another cremation, this time for their rightful relative.
“We plan on having a simple service this time since persons would have already attended a funeral for See Persaud.”
They even asked the Pandit’s relatives for the ghee and other cremation material which they had purchased in preparation for his cremation.
But so angry were the Pandit’s relatives over the mix up that they refused to honour the request.
Geeta Persaud, Pandit Persaud’s daughter-in-law said that her family is saddened by the mix up.
She said that her father-in-law was supposed to be cremated on Thursday
She said that her husband and other relatives visited the parlour on Wednesday to check on the Pandit’s body only to learn that he was already being cremated.
She explained though that her family has retrieved Pandit Persaud’s ashes from the crematorium site and they have performed an unusual Hindu ritual for him.
A worker at the Suddie Funeral Parlour said it is not the parlour’s fault.
He confirmed that See Persaud’s son had identified Pandit Harry Persaud’s body as his father’s
Pandit Persaud’s relatives have since reported the matter to the police but the police have informed that the rift between both families is a private one.
Publisher of this newspaper, Glenn Lall was so moved by the events that he has offered to assist the See Persaud family to offset expenses for the second cremation.