Meet the cop giving COVID victims a dignified farewell

Sandhya Shilawant has cremated upto 15 unclaimed bodies so far

In another example of frontline workers' resilience, woman police naik Sandhya Shilawant of Shahu Nagar police station has been performing final rites of people who died of COVID-19 at city hospitals. These include those whose bodies are unclaimed.

Shilawant recently completed 25 years with the Mumbai police. She lives with her husband and two kids at Vikhroli. She has cremated 13-15 unclaimed bodies so far. She believes that the deceased should have their final rites done according to their religion. A few days ago, she performed the last rites of four unclaimed bodies in a day.

Shilawant said, "During lockdown, I started my work as the writer of Accidental Death Reports (ADR) . I came across many people who died of COVID but their kin didn't come to claim the bodies. I started probing to identify these people based on identifying marks on their body or clothes or valuables. A few months ago, I cremated around eight people from Dharavi."

"My family and my Senior Inspector Vikas Gangavane inspired me to do this work. I also investigate accidental death cases, trace families of the deceased and hand over bodies to their families," Shilawant explained.

"The pandemic brought about a surge in the number of unclaimed bodies. In addition to the regular cases of unidentified people, there were cases where families were either hesitant or refused to claim bodies owing to the fear of the virus. The funerals can be emotionally taxing at times, but giving the dead a dignified farewell is the least we can do. I make sure that the people aren't alone on their final journey," Shilawant said.

Shilawant determines people's religion based on their belongings. During the reverse migration, Shilawant also helped migrants with food and accommodation and to reach their hometowns.