In Uttar Pradesh’s Hamirpur district, vehicular movement on the Yamuna bridge along the Kanpur-Sagar highway is strictly prohibited every Saturday and Sunday due to ongoing repair work. However, it appears these rules apply only to common citizens—not to the privileged or VIPs. A heartbreaking incident has emerged that exposes this double standard.

On Saturday, the Hamirpur administration denied passage to a hearse carrying a deceased woman, while BJP MLA Manoj Prajapati’s car was allowed to speed through the restricted bridge. This incident has cast a harsh spotlight on the administration’s selective enforcement of rules.

As per the current policy, repair work is carried out every weekend from Saturday 6 AM to Sunday midnight, during which all traffic is banned on the bridge. Yet around 6:30 AM on Saturday, police officers stationed at the bridge permitted the car of Hamirpur Sadar MLA Manoj Prajapati to pass. In contrast, at around 9:30 AM, a hearse coming from Kanpur was denied entry. The grieving family pleaded with the authorities, but no one listened. With no other option, the son was forced to carry his mother’s body on a stretcher and walk nearly a kilometer on foot across the bridge.

Binda, a resident of Tedha village in Sumerpur police station limits, said that his mother, Shiv Devi, had been admitted to a Kanpur hospital due to a fractured leg. Sadly, she passed away on Saturday morning during treatment. While returning to Hamirpur with her body in an ambulance, they were stopped at the Yamuna bridge. Left helpless, Binda—assisted by the ambulance driver—carried the body on a stretcher across the bridge, and later placed it in an auto-rickshaw to take her home. The sight left passersby deeply shaken.

When asked about the incident, MLA Manoj Prajapati claimed that traffic had not been fully closed at the time he crossed the bridge, which is why his vehicle was allowed. Notably, just a few days earlier on June 21, a senior state secretary’s convoy had also passed during the restriction.