While it is seen as a good gesture from the part of the church and it has been widely appreciated as well, the issue of Hindu community in Kerala does not have enough land holdings and place for religiously conducting last rites has been a topic of hot debate on social media and in certain sections of Kerala society.
Kochi: Setting a rare example of humanity, a Covid-19 infected person belonging to Hindu community was cremated in a Church in Alappuzha district in Kerala.
K P Ponappan, 73, was cremated at St George Forane Church, , as the premises of his house were not fit to conduct cremation. Talking to The newsskerala.com, Ajit Kumar Pisharath, panchayat member, said that the cremation was restricted to the lighting of the pyre and no other religious rituals were conducted due to covid protocol restrictions.
Ponappan was living in a relief camp set up for the flood-affected people. It was during his stay in the relief camp he was detected with Covid-19 infection. He was shifted to a private hospital where he died on Saturday morning.
As the area where his house is located was inundated due to intermittent heavy rains that have been lashing across the state for the last few weeks, the elected members could find the Church fit for the cremation as floodwaters had not entered the region.
Panchayat members Kochumol Uthaman and Ajit Kumar Pisharath approached the church priest Fr Mathew Chooravadi who gave his nod for the funeral. This is the third time that the church is coming to the aid of people belonging to other communities.
Earlier two persons of the Hindu community belonging to financially weaker sections were cremated in the same church due to lack of space for cremation in their premises.
While it is seen as a good gesture from the part of the church and it has been widely appreciated as well, the issue of Hindu community in Kerala does not have enough land holdings and place for religiously conducting last rites has been a topic of hot debate on social media and in certain sections of Kerala society.
