Johannesburg, Aug 5 (PTI) The cremation of a 40-year-old Indian-origin COVID-19 victim in South Africa has been delayed for over a month due to a family dispute over performing the last rites, in violation of the coronavirus health regulations that require a person to be laid to rest within three days of passing away.

Rakesh Nana died on June 24 due to coronavirus and his body is still lying at a mortuary amid a family dispute over who should perform the last rites according to the Hindu custom.

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The dispute is now scheduled to be heard in the Western Cape province's high court on August 17.

The delay in the cremation is in contravention of the COVID-19 health regulations, which require that the body should have been cremated or buried within three days of passing away.

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South African Nana's parents too had died of COVID-19 complications within days of each other in early May.

The dispute over the cremation arose after Nana's estranged wife Praneshvari, who has two children with him, refused to accept a four-month old affidavit by her husband that his last rights be performed by his sister's adult son instead of his biological son.

However, his sister Panna told the court that she had no objection to Praneshvari or her children participating in the prayers or the funeral ceremony, but insisted that her son would perform the last rites.

South African Hindu Maha Sabha's President Ashwim Trikamjee had tried to intervene to resolve the matter.

“One party was willing to co-operate, but the other was very headstrong. I was told that the matter was a sub judice legal matter and we should leave it to the courts to decide the outcome,” Trikamjee told the weekly Post.

Marius du Plessis, spokesperson for funeral service Avbob, told the weekly that it was in the process of executing a court order that the cremation be done after several discussions with the relatives of the deceased and after having consulted their legal representatives.

This had been delayed because of some outstanding documents, Du Plessis said.

“I can, however, confirm that the cremation will be done as soon as the required documents are in our possession and that the ashes will be kept pending the final determination of the application on August 17,” Du Plessis added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)