‘BODIES OF PARSIS WHO DIE OF COVID-19 TO BE CREMATED’

MUMBAI: Parsi community leaders on Thursday announced that the bodies of those community members who die of Covid-19 will be cremated, owing to the threat of transmission of the virus. The community traditionally follows the dakhma system or confines bodies to the Tower of Silence, a raised structure for dead bodies to be exposed to sun and carrion birds, usually vultures.

The development comes around a month after the municipal corporation issued guidelines, allowing the burial of Covid-19 victims within city limits, provided the ground is large enough to ensure that there is no threat of transmission to the residents of the area.

“For last rites to be held at Doongerwadi [Tower of Silence], we need permission from BMC [Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation]. However, in the case of Covid 19 deaths, no such permission has been provided, and it is BMC who is performing the cremation,” said Viraf Mehta, trustee of Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), caretaker of Parsi properties in the city and the community’s largest representative body.

A circular issued by BPP stated that for the last rites to be performed at Doongerwadi, there are several rituals that need to be performed, which would mean opening the bag in which bodies of Covid-19 patients are sealed.

“On one hand, BMC tells the [Bombay] high court that there is no harm in touching the bodies of those who pass away of Covid-19, while on the other, one cannot open the bags in which the bodies are kept or touch the bodies, without which we cannot really perform the rituals. Also, there is a risk of transmission to pall bearers,” Mehta said.

He added that though there are no official numbers to ascertain the Covid-19 deaths in the family, around 10-15 community members would have died of the virus.

The Bombay high court had last week observed that there was no scientific data to support the claim that Covid-19 can spread through dead bodies.

BPP, however, clarified that for those who die a natural death, traditional dakhma system is being followed.