Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Bigamist's wives fight over corpse

A Bangladeshi court summoned friends of a dead man in an effort to end a six-month wrangle over his corpse by his two wives - one of whom is Hindu, the other Muslim, police said on Monday. When Chandan Kumar Chakrabarty, alias Sazzad Hossain, 42, a vice-principal at a Dhaka college, was stabbed to death by muggers last December his secret double life was exposed and his two wives have since fought over his body.

"His friends will testify about whether he converted to Islam as his second wife claims," policeman Delwar Hossain said, adding that the friends would appear in court on June 29. His Muslim wife, who said she married him a year ago, wants Chakrabarty to be buried in line with traditional Muslim rites.

His Hindu wife, who was married to him for 15 years, said the body must be cremated, and accuses the second wife of being a "fake.” "If we still can't decide, the court will then see if we need to re-examine the body and see if he had been circumcised," Hossain said.

Circumcision is mandatory for Muslim men but Hindu men are not required by their religion to undergo the operation. Bangladesh is a Muslim-majority country but has a secular criminal system inherited from the British, who formerly ruled the Indian sub-continent.

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