The Supreme Court has directed Bombay High Court to decide upon a plea seeking ban on burial of dead COVID 19 patients in three Muslim Cemeteries in Bandra West.
A bench led by Justice RF Nariman and Indira Banerjee passed the orders the special leave petition filed by a resident of Mumbai, Pradeep Gandhy against the refusal of the Bombay High Court to grant interim stay on the burial of dead bodies of the deceased persons who were infected with COVID 19 in three Muslim Cemeteries in Mumbai.
The petitioner submitted that the Konkani Muslim Cemetery, Khoja Sunnat Jamat Kabrastan Bandra West and KhojaIsnaAshari Jammat Kabrastan Bandra West are interconnected and are immediately next to Petitioners residence. The cemeteries are surrounded by residential colonies and falls in the heart of Bandra West.
The Petitioner expressing fear of the spread of the covid-19 virus through the soil to the nearby populace, if the infected bodies are buried in the subject cemeteries submitted “the present unprecedented health situation ought to take precedence over the religious rights of the deceased’s family members seeking to bury the deceased at the subject cemeteries.”
The bench however rejecting the contention of the petitioner dismissed the petition with a direction the Bombay High Court to decide the petitioner’s pending plea within a period of two weeks.
-India Legal Bureau