After a church in Kerala allegedly refused to bury Priyanka Chopra's grandmother Mary John Akhouri on Sunday, citing her marriage to a Hindu as a "major impediment," the actress has responded.
Speaking to ANI after the incident, Priyanka said "The act of church was awful. But we should not concentrate on it. Rather we should look that we lost a family member."
According to a report in NDTV:
An unkept and neglected graveyard in Kerala's famous Kumarakom is where actress Priyanka Chopra's grandmother Mary John Akhouri had to be buried on Sunday, 45 kms away from her home church. It was against her last wish of wanting to be buried at the same church as she was baptised in - which her father had helped to design. This is something which the grieving family is yet to come to terms with.
Church trustee Abraham PV told NDTV, "We could not bury her because after her marriage she lived like a non Christian - like a Hindu. After that she never came back to join us again. If she had given us a petition while she was alive, we would have done everything we could."
Priyanka Chopra's grandmother died on June 3 at the age of 93.