'Busy' Gujarat woman skips mother's funeral in Maharashtra

Palghar (Maharashtra) : An elderly Parsi woman who died here of old age in Thane district was cremated by her Hindu and Muslim neighbours after her married daughter living in Gujarat did not come as "she is very busy in work", area residents said on Friday.

After the death and subsequent cremation of Niru Patel, 65, on Thursday in accordance with Hindu rituals in Manor village in Palaghar tehsil, the daughter declined to come and collect the ashes and sought these be sent to her in Ahmedabad by courier.

Now, the villagers said, they are worried for Niru Patel's paralytic husband Dhiraj Patel, who needs constant attention due to his medical condition.

Villagers said that Niru and Dhiraj Patel were staying in the village while her married daughter is settled in Ahmedabad with her family, a journey of seven hours.

The woman did household work to support herself and her husband, but their only daughter rarely visited or kept in contact with them.

A neighbour called up the daughter after her mother's death on Thursday, but she claimed she had a very busy work schedule.

Since there was no arrangement for Parsi-style disposal of the body in the village or nearby area, the villagers decided to cremate the body at the crematorium.

The villagers informed Manor police but it expressed inability to interfere in a "purely family matter".

However, police official Siddhva Jaibhaye termed it "utterly irresponsible and socially unacceptable behaviour" on the part of the daughter and her husband, for abandoning her aged parents.