A public interest litigation has been filed by Mohammad Furqan Qureshi, a resident of Bandra requesting a graveyard in Bandra or Khar (west) for the Sunni community. According to the petitioner, as there is no graveyard in either of the two suburban locations, members of the community are forced to take their dead to the Santacruz (west) or Bandra (east) graveyards that are filled to the brim. The petition has prayed for directions to the authorities to include a graveyard in the proposed Development Plan 2034 to address the issue.
Mr Qureshi who is a businessman and land developer said that while there is an approximate 2.5 lakh strong Muslim population in Bandra and Khar (west) of which there are 1.72 lakh individuals from the Sunni community (as per BMC records) living there. “Despite such a huge population there is no graveyard for the community. BMC records show that there are almost two deaths per day and the bodies have to be buried either in the Santacruz (west) graveyard or the Bandra (east) graveyard. But as both the graveyards are filled beyond capacity, there is an urgent need for a graveyard in either Bandra (west) or Khar (west),” he said.
He added that despite pursuing the issue with government and BMC officials, there was no favourable response and hence he was left with no option but to approach the Bombay high court.”
