Muslim body conducts last rites of Hindu man in Akola

Nagpur: The youth wing of Kutchi Memon Jamaat performed the last rites of a 78-year-old Hindu man, who passed away following a heart attack, in Akola on May 23 as his son refused to take possession of the body.
The man himself was Covid-19 negative while his wife is admitted to Akola GMCH for Covid-19 treatment. The deceased’s son is a resident of Ambazari in Nagpur.He couldn’t be contacted.
On getting the news, the son reached Akola but refused to accept his father’s body allegedly over fear of contracting coronavirus infection and consequently being placed in institutional quarantine for 14 days.
The Baidpura Youth Wing of the Jamaat has performed last rites of six Hindu persons including three unidentified ones so far.
Among the three identified persons, relatives of two had accompanied the group’s volunteers to the crematorium and even lit the pyre. However, in case of 78-year-old man, the volunteers of Kutchi Memon Jamaat had to lit the pyre as the son returned from hospital itself.
Jamaat’s president Javed Zakaria said volunteers have been doing it since April 12 when Akola recorded death of an Assam man who committed suicide at GMCH after testing positive for Covid. The volunteers had buried the man’s body at local qabrastan.
“Positive or negative, we are performing last rites for all. In case of unclaimed bodies of Muslims, expenses are borne by the Jamaat. AMC sponsors cremations of unidentified persons,” Zakaria said.
Besides the 78-year-old man, Zakaria said they performed janaza of a corona positive woman from Akola, a positive man from Akot-Fail, two corona-free persons and cremated one unidentified male from Umri, Akola on Tuesday too.
“We have bid adieu to 65 persons. Of these, 22 were Covid-19 patients. Of them, 16 were buried and six cremated. The six included three unidentified persons,” he said. Zakaria said he and his volunteers carried out the task while fasting during the Ramzan.
Akola Municipal Corporation (AMC) sanitation department head Prashant Rajurkar said the son paid Rs5,000 towards funeral expenses. “We asked him to conduct the last rites but he was not ready to take possession of the body. We are thankful to the Kutchi Memon Jamaat’s youth wing for performing last rites of not just Covid-19 victims but also of unclaimed bodies,” he said.