Mumbai: After getting no relief in a series of litigations which have reached the Supreme Court, some residents of Bandra on Tuesday blocked police, doctors and other frontline warriors from burying the body of a COVID-19 victim at the Kokani Kabrastan. Police have accordingly registered an FIR against a few residents, who allegedly obstructed the burial.
"When our team went to perform the last rites and bury the Covid-19 victim at the Kokani Kabrastan, some men created a ruckus and obstructed our team. Accordingly, we registered an FIR against them for obstructing public servants and defying their orders," a senior officer from Bandra police station confirmed.
"However, we are yet to make any arrests in the case," he added.
According to Saeed Noori, the general secretary of Raza Academy, who was present at the site, the ones who obstructed the public servants were - Pankaj Gandhy, Sanjay Naik, Gurudutt Kamat and others. "They threatened the trustees of the Kabrastan and even manhandled the frontliners, who were there to bury a coronavirus victim. It may be noted that Naik is the secretary of Mumbai Cricket Association," Noori said.
But the FIR comes as a surprise for Naik, who claims that the trustees buried the body without proper permission from the civic body.
"We did nothing such as obstructing the front liners. And it was not us but other local residents, who opposed the burying of the patient there. We reached the spot only after the cops came in," Naik told The Free Press Journal.
Further, Naik claims that the trustees deliberately buried the victim in this cemetery. "The BMC had permitted them to bury the patient in Bandra east but they did it in Bandra west. When we pointed this out, they claimed that they were not aware of the permitted site," Naik said, adding, "Moreover, not a single BMC official was present at the cemetery during the burial, which is in violation of the HC orders."
Bandra Police have invoked provisions of Indian Penal Code (IPC), which penalises wrongful restraining of a person, disobeying orders of public authorities and also defying norms of lockdown.
Notably, these men had initially petitioned the Bombay High Court, seeking a directive to the civic body to not allow the burial of any coronavirus victim at the cemetery. They apprehend that the virus can be transmitted by the body and lead to community transmission in the nearby residential areas.
The HC, however, had refused to grant any relief and had also ordered Bandra Police to break open the three locks, which these people had put on the cemetery's gates. Accordingly, they had moved the SC challenging the HC orders but the apex court did not stay the orders. It however, asked the HC to consider the matter and dispose of it within a week.
Relying on these orders, the frontliners went to the Kabrastan on Tuesday to bury the deceased, only to be allegedly manhandled by these men in the process.
Commenting on the issue, Noori further said, "At a time when the nation needs to unite and fight this pandemic together, there are people who are indulging into petty politics and are creating undue controversies over the burial of Muslims, who die of coronavirus. We have requested Mumbai Police to take stringent action against such creators of nuisance and provide protection to our corona heroes."
