A family in Guna, Madhya Pradesh, performed the final rituals of 31-year-old Pooja Rajak in an open area near the district hospital mortuary after her father alleged that their landlord refused to allow her body into their rented home during a Navratri programme.
Pooja died while undergoing treatment at the district hospital after a long battle with cancer. Her father, Pahalwan Rajak, told the Times of India that the family had lived in a rented house in Ghosipura for around four years. He alleged that, after her death, the landlord stopped them from bringing her body home because a Navratri event was taking place on the premises.
As a result, the family carried out Pooja’s final adornment and other pre-funeral rituals in the open near the mortuary. The body was later taken to the cremation ground, according to the report.
The family was in financial distress, and social worker Pramod Bhargava and cow protection volunteer Ram Singh Rajak helped them with the arrangements. The reported incident highlights how families without secure housing or financial support can face acute vulnerability at moments requiring privacy, dignity and immediate logistical assistance.
Pooja was originally from Badarwas and was married to Rakesh Lashkari of Indore. She is survived by two daughters and a son. Her father alleged that her husband had remarried and that Pooja had been separated from her matrimonial home after her health deteriorated.
Pahalwan Rajak also said the family had approached the police with complaints alleging assault by the husband. According to him, the husband and his second wife travelled to Guna after learning of Pooja’s death, and the husband attended the rituals held at the hospital premises.
The allegations about the landlord, Pooja’s marital circumstances and the earlier complaint were presented by her father and were not independently established in the supplied report. The report also does not include a response from the landlord, the police or the district administration.
The immediate sequence of events—Pooja’s death during treatment, the family’s alleged inability to take her body into the rented home, and the performance of rituals near the hospital mortuary—has placed the question of housing access and basic dignity at the centre of the incident. No further administrative action or official next step was reported.
