The Navpada Kokani Muslim Kabrastan at Bandra (West) will be made available for the burial of COVID-19 victims after the Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to remove the locks put on the cemetery gates by local residents.
A single Bench of Justice B.P. Colabawalla refused to interfere with a BMC order of April 9 identifying the cemetery as a site for burial of COVID-19 victims. The Bench was hearing a petition filed by four residents challenging the BMC order, claiming that there was a high chance of the virus spreading in the densely populated area.
Advocate Pratap Nimbalkar, representing the Navpada Masjid in Bandra and Santacruz Golibar Dargah Trust that manages the private cemetery, told the court that local residents had locked the cemetery gates and some had created a ruckus on April 13 when a 63-year-old COVID-19 victim was brought for burial, and the body had to be buried elsewhere. He said the residents had opposed the burial even after the Trust identified a secluded spot.
He argued that a March 15 notification issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Affairs said there is unlikely to be an increased risk of COVID-19 infection from a body if standard precautions are followed while disposal.
The court noted that the petitioners had not submitted any material to show that burial of a COVID-19 victim would put residents in the vicinity at risk. It passed the direction, also allowing the Trust to take the help of the police if necessary to carry out burials.
(With PTI inputs)
