The incident has been reported from Karlabahali in Odisha (Representative Image) | Photo Credit: Getty Images

Bhubaneshwar: There is perhaps nothing more heart-wrenching than the sight of a teenaged boy being forced to transport the lifeless body of his mother on a bicycle owing to the lack of an ambulance, One such case has come to light from Karlabahali in Odisha where 17-year-old Saroj had to carry the body of his 45-year-old deceased mother all alone after villagers refused to help him.

Locals in Karlabahali desisted themselves from helping Saroj with the last rites of his mother only because she hailed from a lower caste, claims a report by India Today. In fact, Saroj had to carry his mother's body to a nearby forest where he buried it after neighbours refused to help him transport her body to the cremation ground. She reportedly died after falling to the ground as she went to fetch water.

#WATCH: A father carried her daughter's dead body on his shoulders for 15 kms in Angul(Odisha) after he failed to get hearse service (Jan 4) pic.twitter.com/odZKwjK1Dt — ANI (@ANI) January 6, 2017

The deceased, Janki Sinhania is survived by her son and daughter. She settled down in Karlabahali, her paternal village, after her husband's death. The remote village has unpaved roads and no connectivity for an ambulance or other healthcare facilities.

A similar case was reported from Badaun district in Uttar Pradesh in May of last year when a man was forced to carry his wife's dead body on his shoulder after being denied a hearse. However, what is most shocking is that even more 65 years after India gained independence, the value of a human being's life is measured through the balancing scale of religion and caste.

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