The Archbishop of Chennai-Mylapore, George Antonysamy, has rejected allegations that the Church refused to allow the burial of Dr Simon Hercules in a Kilpauk cemetery as he belonged to a Christian denomination different from the particular church's beliefs. They have further welcomed his wife, Anandhi Hercule's requests and agreed to have Dr Simon's body buried within the Kilpauk cemetery.
The clarification from the Archbishop was made following rumours on social media that when the body was released and first brought to the Kilpauk Christian cemetery, it was sent away because the doctor was Roman Catholic whereas the cemetery belonged to the Church of South India (CSI) which has Anglician and Protestant churches under it. Amongst those who spread this misinformation was Tamil Nadu BJP leader SG Suryah, who later deleted his tweet.
Forced to dismiss the allegations which were spreading like wildfire, the Archbishop provides a timeline of events in a statement that he has issued regarding the burial. In this, he says that on April 19, at close to 8.30 pm, a relative of Dr Simon Hercules received a permission letter from the Church to bury the body at the Kilpauk Church.
"However, as soon as he died, the body was handed over to his family and it came under the control of the Chennai Corporation because he died of an infectious disease. They decided to not wait till the next day and bury the body the same night. So instead of the church cemetery, it was decided that they will bury the body in a cemetery belonging to the corporation. So, no relative approached the church for the burial on Sunday. By then people around the corporation cemetery came to know that a person who died of coronavirus was being buried there and they held demonstrations. Efforts by the police to placate them, ended in failure."
The Archbishop says that as a result the body was taken to the Velangadu cemetery on New Avadi Road, following which the funeral party was assaulted with sticks and stones by local residents who falsely believed that the infection from the body could spread. He maintained that claims that the burial was stopped over disagreements between two Christian denominations is completely false and that the spin on the episode had deeply concerned him. The Archbishop said that the rumours regarding the incident were regrettable, unfounded and poisonous.
"In these difficult times, with coronavirus, acts of humanity must grow. We shouldn't allow for communal fights, violence, or individual aggressions," says the Archbishop.
He further stated that he heard Anandhi Simon's plea to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, where she asked that her husband be buried as planned and the Archbishop has offered the Kilpauk cemetery as Dr Simon Hercules' final resting place. It is not immediately clear whether Dr Simon's body will be moved to the Kilpauk cemetery.