Overview
- Local leader Irfana Iqbal and volunteers found 64-year-old Narayanan weak and starving about a month before his death and arranged his admission to government hospitals for advanced-stage cancer treatment.
- Narayanan died in late June after roughly a month of care at a government medical college hospital and his relatives declined to claim the body, providing written permission for Iqbal to take custody.
- Irfana Iqbal, a Kasaragod district panchayat member who runs the Sheikh Zayed old-age home, brought the body to a public crematorium and performed Hindu last rites, lighting the pyre herself.
- Photos and a social-media post by Iqbal saying “Humanity is above religion and politics” went viral and drew broad public praise for the cross-community gesture.
- Trustees and local activists have filed a complaint with the block-level Scheduled Caste officer alleging that the Scheduled Caste promoter and local ASHA worker did not fulfill welfare responsibilities, which could trigger administrative scrutiny of local care systems.