Viral video of U.P. man carrying dead wife’s body in a bundle on his shoulders creates uproar

A video, showing a young man bundling his dead wife’s body on his shoulders and carrying her to Prayagraj for cremation, went viral on social media on October 14. Opposition leaders in Uttar Pradesh said the video showed society’s insensitivity and exposed the economic inequality in the country.

According to local residents, the video shows a young man named Nakhad, who hails from Varanasi and has been living in Neebi Kala village of Jhunsi in Prayagraj district, earning a livelihood by making and selling leaf plates. His wife Anita, 26, had been unwell for several days and died on Friday due to the lack of treatment, fellow villagers said.

The video shows the young man tying his wife’s body on his shoulders using bamboo, with the help of his father-in-law. He started walking from Jhunsi towards Daraganj Ghat in the city for five kilometres. After this, he was helped by bystanders, who helped him to arrange an e-rickshaw to carry the body for cremation at Daraganj Ghat.

“Where there is no respect for the dead, there is no Amritkaal!” wrote Akhilesh Yadav, Leader of Opposition in the U.P. Assembly and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief, posting the viral video on X (formerly Twitter).

“After death of a woman, her father and husband tied a sheet in a bamboo and kept her body in it and left for the funeral. This glimpse would have shown the insensitivity of the society as well as the truth of the economic inequality of the country where the gap between the rich and the poor has increased so much,” wrote Avinash Kushwaha, another SP leader.