Man Who Died of COVID-19 in Mumbai Cremated After Burial Refused

The patient passed away at a civic-run hospital in Jogeshwari East early on Wednesday, 1 April.

A man who died due to coronavirus in Mumbai has been denied burial. 

(Photo: PTI)

A 65-year-old Muslim man hailing from Malad in Mumbai, who died of coronavirus infection, was cremated after the trustees of a cemetery denied permission to bury his body there, his family members said on Thursday, 2 April.

The patient passed away at a civic-run hospital in Jogeshwari East early on Wednesday. One of the family members of the deceased alleged that after his body was taken to Malad Malwadni Kabrastan, its trustees denied burial “as he was coronavirus positive”.

“This was despite the local civic authorities giving permission for the burial at 4 am,” he said.

The local police and a politician tried to intervene and urged the trustees to allow the burial but the latter did not budge, the family member said. Thereafter, some social workers requested a nearby Hindu crematorium to cremate the body and it was finally done at 10 am.

Talking to PTI, Maharashtra minister and Malwani MLA Aslam Shaikh said, “As per the government guidelines, Muslim COVID-19 victims should be buried at a cemetery, which is closest to the place where the patient died”.

“But in this case, the family of the deceased took his body directly to Malad Malwani Kabrastan without informing anyone, including trustees of the cemetery, and then demanded his burial,” he said.

“Strict action should be taken against the civic staff who brought the body to the cemetery despite knowing the guidelines,” Shaikh said, adding that a day before this incident, another coronavirus victim had been buried at that cemetery.

The son of the deceased said, “After my father was declared dead at the hospital no one came to help me. I kept sitting beside the body outside the hospital for more than three hours. We wanted to bury his body at the Malad-Malwani Kabrastan. But when we reached there, the trustees of the cemetery refused to allow the burial saying he was a COVID-19 patient”.

“After the intervention by the police and other authorities, the body was cremated at a nearby Hindu shamshan bhoomi (crematorium)," he added.

Local Samajwadi Party corporator Rukhsana Siddique said, “When the civic staff know that as per the circular, a COVID-19 victim should be buried at a nearby cemetery, then why did they take the body to Malad (West) despite the patient dying in Jogeshwari (East)?”

The corporator, however, expressed shock over the denial of burial at the cemetery.

(The article has been published in arrangement with PTI)