Mumbai. May 27, 2020: A week after the municipal corporation listed four cemeteries where bodies of Christians who pass away of Covid 19 can be buried, members of the Roman Catholic community approached the Archdiocese of Bombay asking for more cemeteries attached to churches to accept such burials.

The development comes after HT first reported that a family from Mahim was forced to cremate the body of a 61-year-old woman who passed away from Covid-19 after cemeteries refused to provide burial space.

“Despite the high court order, there are not enough cemeteries which are accepting bodies of Covid-19 victims. Which is why a representative submitted a letter to the Archdiocese on our behalf. If they don’t accept the request, we plan to move court. Burial is not being allowed even in family graves. The cemeteries attached to the church need to allow burial just as four BMC cemeteries have been asked to,” said Melwyn Fernandes of Association of Concerned Catholic (AOCC), who has submitted the application.

According to community activists, around 20 such forced cremations would have taken place ever since the lockdown guidelines were enforced. However, there are no official figures available with authorities. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had earlier said that bodies of all Covid-19 victims will have to be cremated, but later earmarked burial grounds for Muslims. This led to demands from Christian groups for burial permissions.

Some approached the Bombay High Court which said burials should be allowed. The court last week, observed that there was no scientific data to support the claim that Covid-19 can spread through dead bodies and that the BMC had all the authority to demarcate the cemetery.

However, Father Nigel Barett, spokesperson of the Archdiocese, said that burial order comes from the BMC. “If BMC gives the order to bury a body, then it is on the trustees of that cemetery to decide whether they want to accept the body or not. There are no guidelines in place by BMC about the handling of dead bodies and when the grave can be opened again, without which everyone is scared to handle the body. Otherwise, the church would be blamed for spreading the virus,” said Barett.

The Archdiocese of Bombay has around five lakh members under its jurisdiction. All across Mumbai, Thane, Raigad district and Mahad, there are 122 churches of Roman Catholic denomination, with approximately 60 cemeteries attached to them.

Earlier, there have been four burials that have taken place at Deonar cemetery, of which two families were from Dharavi. Over the weekend, the burial of a member from a Roman Catholic church from Vakola took place at Mahalakshmi.

“Deonar cemetery is really small, they can only accept a limited number of bodies. They have now requested us to not get any bodies because as there is no space. Some bigger cemeteries like Sewri, which are under the jurisdiction of BMC, are not accepting Covid 19 bodies,” said Cyril Dara, secretary of Christian reform united people association.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/catholics-approach-archdiocese-to-allow-burials-of-covid-19-victims-in-local-cemeteries/story-ne4BjgcrkTu4p4o3UtFb3N.html