Thaindian News

Thrissur (Kerala), May 30 (IANS) The body of a Malayali nurse, who died in Britain in March, may soon be brought back after her family and her widower reached an agreement through the mediation of church officials, the family said here Saturday.
M.P. Jose, brother of the deceased, told IANS: “We are thankful to the parish vicar Noby Ambukaran who mediated between our family and my brother-in-law Angelo Francis. A settlement has been arrived and we will withdraw the case we filed against him in return for our sister Mini’s body to be brought here for the last rites.”

Mini’s mother Lily Francis approached the Kerala High Court after the family came to know that Angelo planned to cremate her body in Britain. The family objected because cremation was against Christian rites.

The high court Wednesday had asked the external affairs ministry to contact the British High Commission and take steps to stop the cremation.

“An agreement has been reached and now we are waiting for the news of the body’s arrival. The only hitch is that UK has strict rules about the time period for which the body can be kept in a mortuary. After that time, the body cannot be transported,” Jose pointed out.

Mini, 28, left for Britain after delivering a baby boy early this year to resume her work as a nurse in a hospital in Salisbury. However, on March 23, her husband informed her family that she had died of septicemia following an infection.