Jitender Singh Shunty

Jitender Singh Shunty is the founder of the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sewa Dal, a Delhi charity that has for more than two decades provided free hearses, ambulances and cremations. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2021 in the field of social work, from Delhi ^[1].

How it began

Shunty was born on 1 August 1962 ^[2]. His father’s death forced him to leave school after matriculation ^[2]. In 1996, at a Delhi cremation ground, he saw a poor man taking half-burnt wood from another pyre to cremate his son; the sight moved him to start cremating unclaimed bodies with dignity ^[2]. He later added free hearse vans for the dead and ambulances for the sick ^[2].

By the time of the award the Sewa Dal had cremated 16,562 bodies and carried more than 39,450 patients ^[2]. Its hearses had carried more than 54,780 bodies to cremation and burial grounds, and its refrigerated mortuary boxes had kept more than 11,580 bodies before last rites ^[2].

During the pandemic

In the Covid-19 pandemic he ran free hearses for those who died of the disease, free ambulances for patients and free cremations ^[2]. He carried more than 966 bodies of Covid-19 victims and 1,244 patients, and cremated 384 bodies that were unclaimed or whose families were in quarantine ^[2]. He and his whole family, his wife and two sons, caught the virus during this work ^[2].

“Donor Singh”

Shunty has given blood 102 times and organised 167 blood donation camps, collecting 22,120 units for patients free of cost ^[2]. The World Book of Records, London, lists him as the first Sikh to achieve this, and he is known as “Donor Singh” ^[2].