Man's body brought home after UAE denies cremation

A family was forced to spend thousands of rupees to fly home the body of a mechanic, who died in an accident.

An Orissa family was forced to spend thousands of rupees to fly home the body of a mechanic, who died in an accident in the United Arab Emirates, which declined permission for cremation.

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Khirod Mohanty, 27, a resident of Mathasahi village, 40 km from the Kendrapada town in the coastal district of Kendrapada, had been working since the last two years in a construction company in Abu Dhabi where he died on Oct 26 when a crane fell on him.

"After his sudden death we decided to cremate the body in Abu Dhabi as per the Hindu rites. But UAE authorities did not allow us to cremate the body," Sarata Mohanty, Khirod's uncle, who also works in Abu Dhabi, said.

He said the body was then flown here Saturday and cremated at Swargadwar, in the holy town Puri.

There is no provision for cremation of bodies in the UAE because of which many Hindus and Sikhs are forced to bury their dead, against their religious practice, or spend a huge amount to bring the body home for last rites, Mohanty said.

Alleging human rights violation, local activist Prafulla Naik and other residents of the area have sent a memorandum to the UAE Ambassador in New Delhi, Chairman of National Human Right Commission, Prime Minister Manomohan Singh and President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam seeking their intervention to ensure justice to Indians abroad.

Naik alleged that some Islamic countries have been violating human rights of non-Muslims by not allowing their religious practices.

However, he pointed out that there were others like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia, which gave religious freedom to non-Muslims.