New Delhi, Aug. 22 -- Earlier this month a video of the last rites of a resident of a care home in Haryana went viral. The clip, which showed rituals being conducted around a pyre, was allegedly broadcast to the man's three daughters, who live in different parts of India and Nepal, and could not travel to Sonipat, where their father, a widower, had spent his last days.

The post quickly drew the wrath of the custodians of morality. One of the daughters had reportedly sent Rs.5,100 for the funeral. Another was heard asking, "How much longer will this take? We have to eat and bathe." The care-home administrator fuelled the public's rage by painting a picture of ostensible filial neglect-phone calls between the children and their father beca...