Jaitauli village head Rajni, who married a Muslim man to contest the election for the post of the village head, has died. When her in-laws were preparing to perform her last rites, the police stopped them and sent the dead body for postmortem. Rajni, the female village head of village Jaitauli in the Gangeshwari block area, died of fever.

When the family members were preparing for her burial in accordance with Islamic customs, villagers informed the police. Subsequently, the police officers who arrived at the spot stopped Rajni’s burial. The villagers argued that Pradhan Rajni was a Hindu and she could have died due to other reasons also. They wanted the police to ensure no foul play had taken place. On the demand of the villagers, the police sent the body for post-mortem. 40-year-old village head Rajni has been suffering from a fever for the last seven days.

Initially, the family members got her treated by a nearby doctor, but there was no improvement in her condition, and the platelet count kept falling continuously. She died during treatment in Meerut. After the post-mortem, the police handed over the body to Satish, the brother of the deceased.

After this, the family members and maternal relatives went to the nearby Gangaghat Ganganagar and performed the last rites of the dead body as per Hindu religion. It was the husband Nazim who lit the funeral pyre of his wife. Rajni’s husband Nazim himself performed the last rites of his wife by lighting her funeral pyre in the presence of the police as per Hindu customs.

Earlier, when Nazim’s family was preparing for the burial of the body of Rajni, some villagers had expressed objection. Villagers said that the last rites of the woman’s body should be done as per her Hindu religion. Rajini belonged to Scheduled Caste and has left behind two children. During the Panchayat elections, as the seat of Gram Panchayat Jaitauli was reserved for the Scheduled Caste category, Nazim, a resident of the village, married Rajni, a resident of Bulandshahr, to contest the elections.

(Featured Image Source: Amar Ujala)