Hindus want an immediate public apology from Ireland President Michael Daniel Higgins and Prime Minister Enda Kenny for the reportedly unnecessary and preventable recent death of a miscarrying Hindu woman by blood poisoning after being denied a life-saving abortion.
Reacting to 31-year old dentist Savita Halappanavar’s death, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement today, said that it was 2012 and in view of its increasingly diverse, pluralistic and multicultural society, Ireland needed to re-look at some of its outdated laws dating back to 1861 and introduce reform.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism headquartered in Nevada (USA), noted that Hindu community worldwide was highly disturbed over Halappanavar’s death in University Hospital Galway (Ireland). Ireland should ensure the world that no one would die in similar circumstances in the future. How can one see this tragedy as “pro-life”? Zed asked.
Halappanavar appeared to have been forced to abide by a religious doctrine of the majority to which she did not belong, Rajan Zed argued.
Zed stated that the human rights, women’s rights and the rights of religious minorities seemed to have been sacrificed for electoral greed in Ireland. Leaders of this country of James Joyce, Robert Boyle, William Butler Yeats, Saint Patrick, U2, Undertones, shamrocks, 40 shades of green, Emerald Isle, should exhibit strong political will and the European Union should take a tough line on Ireland on this issue.
Although no amount of money could possibly match this tragedy and human loss, Halappanavar’s family should be adequately compensated, Rajan Zed added.
