No to burial twice, three women travel 25 km with mother’s body
Shiv Kumar Sharma
Tribune News Service
Yamunanagar, February 16
Three Christian sisters have failed to fulfil the last wish of their mother to bury her body in the courtyard of their house following opposition by local residents at Pratap Nagar in Yamunanagar district. The sisters had to dig her grave at three places and carry her body from one place to another to perform her last rites.
Geeta Ansal said her mother Gendivati, a midwife at Pratap Nagar for 55 years, and died on February 14 at the age of 92. She said when she and her sisters Raksha and Gian dug a grave in the courtyard of their house, they were stopped by some local residents from performing the last rites. She said they did not allow a grave inside the colony.
“There is no Christian cemetery in Pratap Nagar. My mother tried to buy land in Kutipur village, near Pratap Nagar, for her grave, but could not do so. She wished to be buried in the courtyard of her house, but we failed to fulfil her last wish,” said Geeta.
She said some people suggested that they could bury the body near the cremation ground at Kisanpura village, close to Pratap Nagar. “We got a grave dug and took the body there. In the meantime, residents of Kisanpura village arrived and did not allow us to bury the body there,” she said.
She said they took the body to the cemetery in Jagadhri, about 25 km away, and performed the last rite there. “My mother wished that a library or dispensary should be opened at our ancestral house after her death. We will now make efforts to fulfil this wish,” she said.
Posted as Senior Nursing Officer at the PGI in Chandigarh, she said she had two sisters and their father had died long ago. Praveen Aggarwal, Pratap Nagar sarpanch, said they had offered land for a grave near the cremation ground, but the family members of the deceased had turned down the proposal. Rakesh Kumar, Pratap Nagar SHO, said the issue had been sorted out and he had not received any complaint.
