Body of Una Hindu man to be exhumed in Saudi Arabia

Shimla: The consulate general of India office at Jeddah has taken up the matter of exhuming the body of Una resident Sanjeev Sharma, who was buried in Saudi Arabia as per Muslim customs, despite him being a Hindu. It has now come to light that mistake was committed due to translation error in death certificate. Once body is exhumed it would be repatriated to India.

Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur had requested foreign minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday to intervene in the matter. He had sought that mortal remains of Sharma, who was a resident of Mohalla Gurusar ward No 2 of Una district, be brought from Saudi Arabia so that his last rites could be performed as per the Hindu traditions.

Sharma was working as a truck driver with Saleem Abdullah Saad AL Saqr in Saudi Arabia since 1999 and had died in Besh Hospital in Jizan region of Jaddah on January 24. His family got in touch with the Indian Embassy so that his body could be brought back to India.

However, on February 18, the owner of the company where Sharma used to work informed the bereaved family that they had buried Sharma in a graveyard. He forwarded a copy of the death certificate and burial permit which erroneously mentioned the religion of Sanjeev Kumar as Muslim.

The CM had informed the state assembly on Saturday that after receiving the information about the incident he took up the matter with the Government of India and Saudi Arabia consulate general.

He said Indian consulate general at Jeddah through email informed him that issue has been taken up with the local foreign office to exhume the body and to instruct local authorities to probe the circumstances leading to burial of the body without any intimation even to his sponsor.

The email said the religion mentioned in the English translation of Arabic death certificate issued by Khamees Mushayat civil affairs office as “Muslim” was a mistake made by translation office while in original death certificate, the religion of the deceased was not mentioned. An apology letter has been issued by the Saudi translation office.

Sharma’s issue was first raised in the Himachal Pradesh assembly on Tuesday by Congress MLA Satpal Singh Raizada .


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