We refer to the malaysiakini report Another religious tussle over the dead .

Women's Aid Organisation (WAO), a member of the Article 11 coalition, is appalled to hear of yet another tussle over the remains of a deceased person whose religious status has been made a subject of dispute. The Selangor Religious Department (Jais) asserts that Rayappan Anthony was Muslim, and that it has the authority to take the deceased's body away from his family for burial according to Islamic rites.

His family, on the other hand, claims that although he converted to Islam in 1990, he professed Christianity during the last seven years until his death. As such, his family wished to bury him in accordance with his professed faith.

This case is not an isolated one. We have seen in the last year similar situations arising in the case of M Moorthy and, more recently, Chandran Dharmadhass.

The heart of the matter in this case is the heartbreaking plight that is being faced by his family. They are unable to lay their loved one to rest in accordance with the rites of his professed faith, and their grief over his death has been severely exacerbated by the state authorities' intervention. Furthermore, their mourning, which is a very private matter, has now become a matter of public scrutiny.

WAO is gravely concerned that Rayappan Anthony's right to profess and practise his religion, as enshrined in Article 11 of the Federal Constitution, has not been duly respected by the state authorities. In addition, the right of Rayappan Anthony's family to mourn his death in private has been infringed. The intervention by Jais invades the family's privacy and adds to the severe emotional and spiritual hurt the family already has to endure.

WAO urges all parties involved in this matter to respect Anthony Rayappan's professed faith at the time of his death. The paramount consideration should be his dying wish and the choice of his family in determining how he is buried.

The writer is programme officer, Women's Aid Organisation.