DNA: Mumbai: Monday, January 30,
2017.
According to
information obtained under the RTI Act by Qureshi, two persons from the
community die every day. “Bodies are taken for final rituals and burials to
Juhu-Santacruz (W) or Bandra (E),” the PIL claimed while urging the court to
direct the authorities to allot a one-hectare land for a cemetery for the
community.
“How do you
expect the family, where there has been a death, to travel long distances to
perform the last rites, given the present traffic scenario,” the Bombay High
Court asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) recently, after it
filed an affidavit in the court stating that there was no plot reserved for the
Sunni burial ground in Bandra West.
Not accepting
the stand the corporation took, the high court said “In light of the earlier
directions on the publication of draft plans and the information placed on
record by the petitioner, we are unable to accept the statement of the
Corporation in the affidavit that they have not earmarked anything in Special
Planning Area (SPA) Block-A for the kabrastan, which totally lacks application
of mind to their own draft plan.”
The court has
asked the civic body to file another affidavit by February 3, explaining their
stand with more details on whether the plot of land at Bandra Reclamation is
reserved for the kabrastan or not. The direction was given during the hearing
of a Public Interest Litigation filed by Bandra resident Furqan Qureshi,
regarding the failure of the authorities to allot land to the community for
burying their dead.
Earlier, the
BMC had said, the responsibility of allotting land was that of the government.
The state on the other hand claims that the civic body needs to allot the
space. Advocate Ashraf Shaikh, counsel for the petitioner said, the draft
development plan 2016 mentions the reservation of land for a Muslim cemetery in
Block A, but does not specify the area or provide any details. There are around
1.72 lakh Sunni Muslims residing in Bandra (W) and Khar (W), the PIL claimed.