BMC allows burial of a Christian Covid-19 victim

On Thursday morning, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) allowed burial of a Christian, who died of Covid-19, at a designated cemetery. This is the first

On Thursday morning, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) allowed burial of a Christian, who died of Covid-19, at a designated cemetery. This is the first burial of a Covid-19 victim from the Christian community as other victims were cremated as per protocol.

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The 74-year-old woman from Dharavi passed away at SevenHills Hospital on Wednesday and was buried at Deonar Municipal Christian cemetery.

“Over the past 60 days, there have been 11 cremations. On Wednesday, despite BMC order, Sewri cemetery refused burial to the body. Then we tried contacting other cemeteries and the burial took place at Deonar,” said Cyril Dara, a church activist.

However, Sewri cemetery authorities were unavailable for comments.

A BMC official, who co-ordinated the burial, said in a normal situation burials take place within ward premises, but in situation such as this, permissions are required from higher authorities.

The development comes after the civic body issued a circular designating four cemeteries for Christians, two for Chinese and one for Jewish community.

Following which, members of the Christian community contended that according to their religious practices a body cannot be cremated and needs to be buried and that forced cremations hurt their religious sentiments.

Last month, BMC had allowed burial of Covid-19 victims within city limits, provided the ground is large enough to ensure there is no threat of transmission to the residents of the area. However, only 20 Muslim cemeteries were allotted for burials.