The remains of a 45-year-old man, whose religious status became a subject of dispute because the National Registration Department had unwittingly noted he was Muslim in his identity card, has been returned to his family.

According to Tamil Nesan today, Kandasamy Sayapu was declared a non-Muslim by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais).

The family was allowed to claim the body from the Banting Hospital at 4.30pm yesterday.

Tamil Nesan said the matter was resolved expeditiously following the efforts of its director S Velpaari, who is also the son of MIC president S Samy Vellu.

Kandasamy, a father of two, passed away on Saturday after suffering from a heart attack. The family brought his body back to the house and subsequently notified the police.

However, the police discovered that the deceased's religion was stated as Islam on his MyKad.

The police then took the remains to the Banting Hospital mortuary and told the family that the matter could only be resolved by Jais.

His family members claimed that Kandasamy was a Hindu and had failed to check his religious status on his new identity card.

Arbitrary declaration

Yesterday, the Malaysian Hindu Sangam (MHS) expressed "shock and disappointment" with the incident.

"The dispute is only on burial or cremation and not to deny the right (of his family) to care for his body," said its president A Vaithilingam.

According to him, the NRD had arbitrarily declared the deceased as a Muslim on his identity card based on the name 'Sayapu'.

"For 45 years, no Islamic Department or any Muslim have even stepped into the home of the deceased to care or enquire on his health and welfare," he added.

He also said the director of the Banting hospital and the district police chief should have acted in a more humane manner by allowing the family to keep the body until the matter is resolved

In view of this case, MHS has urged all Hindus in this country to check their religious status on their MyKad.

Inform of conversion

In a related development, Velpaari (left) also called on the Indian community to check their identity cards to ensure that there are no errors concerning their religious status.

He also urged those who have converted to inform their families to avoid any controversy in the future.

Previously, the case of deceased Everest climber M Moorthy had made headlines pertaining to the issue of religious conversion.

Moorthy's widow S Kaliammal became embroiled in a legal tussle with the Islamic religious authorities.

She claimed that her husband was a practising Hindu while the former said he had converted and hence should be buried as a Muslim.

The situation heightened when the Syariah Court ruled - following an ex-parte application - that Moorthy had died a Muslim.

Following this, Kaliammal turned to the High Court but the court ruled that it had no jurisdiction over syariah matters.

Kaliammal has since filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal.