Author: Shailendra Singh, in Suva
Publication: India Abroad News
Service
Date: February 25, 2001
Here is uproar in Fiji's Hindu community
in the capital here over another family being stopped from scattering the
cremated remains of a family member along a shoreline.
Police say they stopped the customary
ritual in the interest of the public as the venue is a popular picnic spot
and advised the family of deposed parliamentarian Raghu Nand to seek permission
from the Marine Department before carrying on with the last rites.
The Marine Department, however,
refused permission imposing restrictions on such activities. An officer
from the department was in the news recently for having stopped a Hindu
family from performing the rite.
A marine department official said
anything that is not classed as a pollutant or dangerous substance could
be released in the sea.
A frustrated Nand said the incident
had caused the family distress. He said they were given the run around
by authorities that did not seem to know what they were doing.
"According to our religion, we have
to complete our last burial rites by 12 p.m. and running around like this
wasted a lot of time," Nand said, adding, he had no idea why police stopped
them when it was their right to perform the ritual, which has been the
practice over the years.
"It is part of our religious right
and freedom and I believe that we should not have been stopped," he said.
The president of the Sanatan Dharam
Sabha of Fiji Lautoka branch, Swami Maharaj, said Hindus should be allowed
to do this because it is their religious right.
"We have a right to religious freedom
and freedom of expression. The interim administration and the commissioner
of police should tell us if it is legal for Hindus to be stopped from performing
their last burial rites," Maharaj said.
Following the controversy, Hindus
were advised by their leaders not to discard plastic bags along with flowers
and ashes into the sea.
