Shahjahanpur. The matter of repatriation of the dead body of Mohammad Alam, who had gone to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to earn a living, has become entangled in complications. Alam, a resident of Mohammad Shah locality of Kotwali area of Shahjahanpur city, died in Jeddah eight months ago.
Alam’s 85-year-old mother Maryam and brother Aftab Jahan want to bring his dead body to India and hand it over to ashes. At the same time, Alam’s wife has allegedly authorized one of her acquaintances in Jeddah to perform his last rites. However, amid this tussle, Alam’s body is still in Jeddah.
Superintendent of Police S Anand said that Mohammed Alam (35), who had gone to Jeddah in the year 2013 for a job, had died on March 30, 2022. The body of the deceased has been in Jeddah for almost eight months. According to Anand, the mother and brother of the deceased want to bring the body to India for cremation, while his wife has reportedly authorized someone she knows in Jeddah to perform the last rites of Alam. The matter is stuck due to the inability of both the parties to agree. According to Anand, when this matter came to his notice, he called for necessary information from the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia. He said that the police is in touch with the family of the deceased and is extending all help as per their wishes.
Alam’s brother Aftab said, My brother had gone to Jeddah nine years ago for a job. He used to come home from time to time, but this year he contracted COVID-19, after which he died on March 30. However, the family got its information after almost five months, on August 24. Aftab told that the Indian Embassy had asked the family members whether they wanted to bring Alam’s body to India or agreed to perform his last rites in Jeddah itself. Aftab told that on this, the relatives completed the paperwork in five days and requested to bring the dead body to India, but after Alam’s wife Farheen Begum wrote a letter to the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia, saying that the last rites of the dead body should be performed there. Brother’s dead body could not be brought to India.
On the other hand, Alam’s wife Farheen says that she herself wants her husband’s last rites to be performed in Shahjahanpur, but if the body is not in a position to be brought to India, then it should be handed over to Jeddah itself. According to Farheen, Alam’s death took place in March, about which he was informed after five months and now three more months have passed. He said that if Alam’s body is brought to India, his condition will worsen, so it is better that he be cremated in Jeddah itself.
It is being told that Farheen has authorized a person named Zahoor Alam living in Jeddah to perform the last rites. Farheen also says that he has been told that it will cost eight lakh rupees to bring the body to India, which he does not have. However, Aftab’s claim that money was spent in bringing the body to India is false. He said, crying in the grief of losing her son, my mother lost her vision in one eye. She only asks everyone who comes out to be shown her son’s face once.
Aftab said that he has pleaded and pleaded with everyone, from minister to MP, to bring his brother’s body to India, but to no avail. He said that now there is hope of help from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, so that Aftab’s body can be handed over to his homeland.
