Indian origins who died in Dublin were buried in Ireland; Seema and her children buried in the same grave

DUBLIN: The funeral of Seema Banu and her two children, Asfira Riza (11) and Faizan Syed (6), who were found dead at their home in Ballinteer, was held in Dublin.

Funeral services were held yesterday at Newcastle Cemetery, Dublin. Seema Banu’s husband Sameer Sayed also attended the funeral.

The bodies of the three, natives of Mysore, India, were found last Wednesday by Gardai at their home in Ballinteer. The Garda arrived at the scene and investigated it after being informed by the neighbours.

The post-mortem revealed that the children had been strangled to death. But the cause of Seema’s death has not yet been confirmed. No significant progress has been made in the Garda’s investigation into this.

Seema was suspected of committing suicide after her children were murdered. But the fatal injuries found on Seema’s body indicated that it was a murder. And that’s the way the investigation is progressing now.

• 

Seema’s family in India wanted the remains to be brought back home to give them a burial in their native country. But, her husband Sameer insisted that the family be buried in the nearest place and decided to bury them here.

Seema’s family had tried in various ways to raise money for the repatriation of the three bodies. The Indian Embassy in Dublin had also offered to help them.

They were buried in the Newcastle Muslim Cemetery after their last rites in the Clonskeagh Mosque. All three were buried in the same grave. Seema’s coffin was lowered into the ground first followed by those of her children.

Sameer helped carry the coffins to the grave before saying his goodbyes. He placed a number of flowers with tears on the graves following the burial.

Shaykh Dr Umar Al-Qadri, the Head-Imam of the Islamic Centre of Ireland also attended the funeral. The Indian Embassy had set up live streaming of the burial ceremony for Seema’s family.

Seema’s relatives wanted them to be buried in India so that her parents could see her for one last time. But it couldn’t, because her husband Sameer, wasn’t interested.