Chennai, India - The body of a 36-year-old ‘non-Muslim’ woman, which was buried in a mosque here, was dug up and removed on Monday.
According to Sunnath Jamaat Aikkia Peravai general secretary Melai Nazar, the deceased Mumtaz (36) of Alandur belonged to the Kadiyani sect (Ahmediya). Her relatives were denied permission to bury the body in mosques in Alandur, Royapuram and Aminjikarai.
On Sunday, they brought the body to the mosque on St Peter’s Road in Royapettah. Nazar alleged that Mumtaz’s relatives presented a forged certificate at the mosque office and without conducting any prayer or rituals, as was the custom, dumped her body inside a pit that had been dug up to bury another body and left. They filed a complaint with the Mylapore station, saying that locals were trying to remove the body.
Jamaat members said they would launch a stir if the body was not removed. In order to defuse the tension, a delegation, led by government qazi Salauddin Mohammed Ayub, was sent by Mylapore Deputy Police Commissioner A G Mourya to the Collectorate for talks. But the team was asked to meet the tahsildar instead.
Tension ran high with a huge crowd gathering outside the mosque. Around 3.30 pm, the Jamaat members dug up the body under the directive of the qazi. It was taken in a corporation ambulance to Krishnampet cremation ground and buried there.
Mylapore inspector Isac Paulraj said the decision was taken after the deceased’s relatives washed their hands off the matter.