Haj pilgrimage: Saudi Arabia lifts restrictions on number, age limit, after three years
Riyadh: After imposition of restrictions for three years to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, Saudi Arabia will not limit the number of pilgrims for this year's Haj, Tawfiq Al Rabiah, Minister of Haj and Umrah, has said.
Addressing reporters in Riyadh on Monday, Al Rabiah said that the age limit too will not be imposed on the pilgrims, whose number will return to what it was prior to the pandemic outbreak, reports Khaleej Times.
The pilgrimage, which is one of the five pillars of Islam and which all able-bodied Muslims with the means are required to perform at least once, is scheduled for June.
About 2.5 million people took part in the rituals in 2019, but in the next two years, the number of pilgrims was cut down drastically due to Covid-19.
Nearly 900,000 pilgrims – including about 780,000 pilgrims from abroad – were welcomed to Makkah and Madinah in 2022.
The rules were set down last year that the pilgrims had to be under 65 years of age, necessarily have been vaccinated against Covid-19 and also present a negative test against the pandemic.
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Woman, 2 sons found dead in Delhi home; suicide suspected
New Delhi (PTI): Three members of a family were found dead inside their home in southeast Delhi's Kalkaji on Friday, with police suspecting it to be a case of suicide, officials said.
Police said the incident came to light around 2.47 pm when a police team reached the premises to execute a court order related to possession of the property. When repeated knocks went unanswered, the staff used a duplicate key to open the door.
Inside, officers found Anuradha Kapoor (52) and her sons, Ashish Kapoor (32) and Chaitanya Kapoor (27), hanging from the ceiling, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Hemant Tiwari said in a statement. All three were declared dead.
A handwritten note was recovered from the room, suggesting the family had been struggling with depression.
"The handwritten note indicates emotional distress faced by the family due to which the family may have taken the extreme step," the officer said.
The bodies have been shifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) mortuary for post-mortem and other legal formalities under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), police said.
Residents of the neighbourhood said they were shocked to learn about the deaths, adding that the family kept largely to themselves.
Pankaj Kashyap, a resident of Girinagar, said he learnt about the deaths while leaving for work. "I live and work here and was leaving for work when I saw many people standing outside and talking. That is how I got to know that three people had committed suicide. I also saw several police vehicles outside, but I do not know much beyond that," he said.
Baldev, another neighbour, said the family had been living in the newly constructed house for around two years. "We only knew that a mother and her two children lived there. They had moved into the newly built house around two years ago. We did not interact much with them. Today we heard that all three have committed suicide, and whatever we know is based on what people here are saying," he said.
Another neighbour, Ramesh Kumar, claimed the family had earlier attempted suicide.
"About fifteen to twenty days ago, the two sons in the family had attempted suicide and police and ambulances had come. That was when I first got to know who they were. I do not recognise them by face, but we saw the ambulances and police take the two sons that day. Today again we saw ambulances and police arriving, so everyone came out to see what had happened. I do not know how long they had been living here, but this is all we know," he said.
Police said they are examining the family's financial condition, social circumstances, and other factors that may have contributed to the incident. Further investigation is underway.
