Muslim woman performs last rites of Hindu man in Kerala

In an act drawing appreciation on the internet, a Muslim woman panchayat member in Kerala’s northern Kasaragod region performed the last rites of a Hindu man as per his customs after the deceased person’s family declined to claim the body following his death from cancer.

The deceased person has been identified as Narayanan (64), a native of Chigrupadavu in Manjeswaram, PTI reported.

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He was undergoing treatment for advanced-stage cancer for nearly a month at the Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital and passed away on Thursday.

Irfana Iqbal, the development chairperson of the Kasaragod district panchayat, told PTI that the person was found in a starving condition on the veranda of a shop in Kasaragod nearly a month ago. The incident was brought to her attention by a ward member.

Later on, she informed the District Collector and the District Medical Officer about the same.

She later got him shifted to the hospital with the help of volunteers of a local charitable foundation.

“We had initially planned to shift him to the trust-run old age home. But his health condition was very serious, and he was diagnosed with fourth-stage cancer. So we admitted him to the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital,” PTI quoted Iqbal as saying.

After Narayanan’s death, police officials informed his family members about it, but they were unwilling to claim the body.

However, they authorised Iqbal to perform the funeral rites.

“We received the body and conducted the final rites at a Hindu crematorium in Kasaragod as per his religious beliefs,” she said.