MP: Muslims cremate Hindu neighbour during COVID-19 lockdown

The COVID-19 curfew broke down religious barriersin Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal city, after Muslims helped perform the last rites oftheir Hindu neighbour, whose relatives were unable to make it to the funeral.

In a display of harmony during this unprecedentedcrisis, Muslim residents of Teela Jamalpura locality in the old city, carriedthe body of their 50-year-old neighbour, who succumbed to a liver ailment onWednesday.

   

“The woman died while undergoing treatmentfor a liver ailment in the early hours of Wednesday. And since none of herclose relatives were around because of the lockdown, we took her body to thecremation ground at Chhola Vishraghat,” Shahid Khan, who made all thefuneral arrangements, told PTI.

The deceased woman’s husband Mohan Namdeo is asmall-time vendor and the couple has two sons, he said.

“The family is poor and the woman was ailingfor a long time and died at government-run Hamidia Hospital,” he said.

People were mindful that only 20 persons couldparticipate in the funeral as per lockdown norms, or else the entire communitywould have shown up for the last rites, he said.

Videos of Muslim men, wearing masks and skullcaps, carrying the woman’s body on their shoulders to the cremation ground,were shared on social media.

A similar initiative was taken by Muslim men inIndore earlier this month.

Former Chief Minister Kamal Nath praised membersof the Muslim community, saying such acts of humanity strengthen communalharmony, love and brotherhood.

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