The court docket directed that the physique must be secured in a physique bag (Representational)
Kolkata:
The Calcutta Excessive Court docket on Wednesday directed that the physique of a COVID-19 affected person will probably be handed over to the household for cremation after completion of hospital formalities, supplied submit mortem of the useless physique will not be required.
Observing that the fitting to dignity and honest remedy below Article 21 of the Structure will not be solely obtainable to a residing particular person but additionally to his physique after his demise, the court docket stated that it’s of the view that the fitting to stay a dignified life extends as much as the purpose of dying together with the dignified process of dying.
“We’re inclined to interpret the phrase “dignified process of dying” in an expansive method in order to incorporate dignified disposal of the human stays of a deceased,” a division bench comprising Chief Justice TBN Radhakrishnan and Justice Arijit Banerjee stated.
It directed that the physique must be secured in a physique bag, the face finish of which must be ideally clear.
“Disposal of a human physique, whether or not or not the particular person dies of COVID-19, whether or not by cremation or burial, must be finished with due respect and solemness,” the court docket noticed.
The bench directed that the face finish of the physique could also be unzipped by the workers on the crematorium or burial floor to permit the family members to see the physique for one final time.
Presently, non secular rituals that don’t require touching of the physique must be allowed, the court docket directed, noting that the individuals dealing with the physique shall take commonplace precautions like sporting masks, gloves, and many others.
The court docket directed that the individuals dealing with the physique shall go straight from the hospitals to the crematorium or burial floor and to not anyplace else together with the house of the sufferer.
Passing the order on a PIL, the division bench directed that the federal government ought to prescribe further cheap measures as could also be suggested by medical specialists.
Observing that traditions and cultural elements are inherent to the final rites of an individual’s physique, the bench stated that the fitting to an honest funeral may also be traced to Article 25 of the Structure which offers for freedom of conscience and free career, observe and propagation of faith topic to public order, morality and well being.
The court docket noticed that the standard perception within the nation is that until the final rites are carried out earlier than the burial/cremation, the soul of the sufferer is not going to relaxation in peace.
Noting that this perception is rooted and that it additionally has an emotional and mawkish facet, the court docket stated that it firmly believes that the members of the family of a sufferer who’s contaminated with COVID-19 shouldn’t be disadvantaged of the fitting to carry out the final rites, topic to them taking all crucial precautionary measures.
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