Woman moves Delhi HC seeking mortal remains of Hindu husband mistakenly buried in Saudi Arabia

A Hindu woman has approached the Delhi High Court seeking to get back the mortal remains of her husband whose body was buried in Saudi Arabia after an official translator at the Indian Consulate wrongly declared that the deceased was Muslim.

In a writ petition filed through advocate Subhash Chandran K R, the petitioner said that her husband, an Indian migrant who had worked in Saudi Arabia for 23 years, died on January 24 due to diabetes, hypertension and cardiac arrest. His mortal remains were kept at the Baesh General Hospital in Jizan, Saudi Arabia.

The petitioner stated that on getting the information of her husband's death, her family members had requested the concerned authority to repatriate the mortal remains.

Subsequently, the wife was asked to execute a Power of Attorney for completing the formalities of repatriation of mortal remains of Sanjeev Kumar and the same was done on January 28.

"Shockingly, on February 18, 2021, the petitioner was informed that the dead body of her husband has been buried. The officials in the Indian Consulate explained that it was due to a mistake committed by the official translator of the Indian Consulate, Jeddah who wrongly mentioned his religion as 'Muslim' in the death certificate," her plea stated.

They also shared a letter of apology tendered by the official translating agency of the Indian Consulate in Jeddah with the petitioner, it mentioned.

She told the court that neither she nor any member of the family of the deceased had given any consent to bury the body of Sanjeev Kumar in Saudi Arabia.

The petitioner requested the officials of the Indian Consulate in Jeddah to impress the local authorities to exhume the mortal remain of her husband so that the same can be transported to India for performing last rites as per the faith of the family.

Unfortunately, even after seven weeks of the death of the husband of the petitioner, the authorities concerned have failed to do necessary formalities to repatriate the mortal remains of Sanjeev Kumar to India for performing last rites, the plea states.

"That the inaction on the part of the respondents is illegal and arbitrary, thus violating the fundamental rights of the petitioner guaranteed under the Constitution of India," the woman said and urged the Delhi High Court to issue a direction to Union of India and Indian Consulate (Jeddah) to do necessary formalities for exhuming the mortal remains of her husband repatriate the same to India in an urgent and time-bound basis.

( With inputs from ANI )