Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – The Pematang Siantar Police in North Sumatra have named four men as suspects for bathing a deceased body of a female patient suspected to have contracted COVID-19 in Djasamen Saragih regional hospital (RSUD), following a report from her husband over alleged mishandling and sharia violation.
The four suspects are DAA, RE, ES and RS, and they are all bilal mayit (morticians) workers in the hospital.
Pematang Siantara police chief Adj. Sr. Cmr. Boy Sutan Binangsa Siregar said the four men were suspected to have violated Article 79 (c) of the 2004 Law on Medical Practice.
Though the four have been named suspects, the police have not detained them as their services are still needed by the hospital.
"We have not detained them but [the charges] carry a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment," Boy told reporters on Friday.
They were first reported by the deceased woman's husband in September. The case started when the husband, named Fauzi Munte, filed a complaint to the hospital over the bathing ritual of his deceased wife. The complaint video of more than 3 minutes circulated on social media, in which Fauzi lambasted the hospital for letting his wife be bathed by men. In the video, Fauzi also denied that his wife had died of COVID-19.
His wife died in the hospital on Sept. 20 afternoon and the hospital helped prepare her body for her funeral.
"I peeked at the bathing process of my wife's body and I was shocked to see that it was four men who did it, two Muslims and two Christians who are clearly not her muhrim [blood relatives]. This violates sharia," he said in the video.
He further claimed that he was not allowed to enter the room by hospital officials and was asked to leave.
The incident sparked protests from the public, including local Islamic figures who claimed that the incident insulted Muslims. The case even prompted protests staged by hundreds of people in Adam Malik field in the city in October, demanding that the four morticians be legally prosecuted for their alleged wrongdoing.
Local figure Syahban Siregar claimed the four men had violated human rights and Islamic sharia, as it was forbidden for female Muslim corpses to be bathed by men.
In response to the case, Pematang Siantar Mayor Hefriansyah said he had removed the hospital's director Ronald Saragih to fulfill the demands of protestors.