The National Human Rights Commission has awarded a Rs 1-lakh compensation to the family of a road accident victim whose body was carried in a garbage van by police to hospital, where staff wrapped it in a torn cloth.

The Karnataka chief secretary has till May 27 to pay the sum to the family of journalist Mounish Pothraj, 28, who worked for a private TV channel at Sirsi in Karwar district.

Pothraj was heading to Sirahatti in Gadag district on his motorcycle last year, carrying Sankranti gifts for his family, when his two-wheeler crashed into a roadside tree, killing him.

Human rights activist and Supreme Court lawyer Radhakanta Tripathy had complained to the commission about the way the police and staff at the government hospital in Hanagal had treated the body.

He said the hospital staff had refused to touch the body unless they were paid and had just wrapped it in a torn piece of cloth, in which he was cremated.

After receiving a notice from the commission, the state had admitted to insensitive treatment of the body.

The commission observed that prima facie, the administration appeared to have neglected Pothraj’s human rights and ill-treated his body.