Right To Decent Burial For Covid-19 Victims

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A circular issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation(BMC) on 9 April.
This circular had designated 20 burial grounds and cemeteriesin the city, including three cemeteries in Bandra (West), for disposing of bodies of persons who died due to Covid-19.

CIRCULAR CHALLENGED IN BOMBAY HC

The four petitioners had challenged the validity of a circular issued by the BMC commissioner on April 9 identifying the three inter-connected Muslim cemeteries as sites for burial of Covid-19 victims.
They complained that the cemeteries were at the heart of Bandra westand were surrounded by thickly populated residential areas.

The state government had opposed the petition by pointing out that burial at the cemeteries was not likely to spread the deadly virus in surrounding areas.
“It is declared by the World Health Organisation that coronavirus is not air bound and hence transmission of the virus to other people staying in the vicinity of the burial ground is highly impossible,” said the government.
“The transmission cannot happen unless people in the locality come in direct contact with the dead body
brought for burial or cremation,”
“Direct contact of people staying in the locality with a dead body is impossible as the dead body is wrapped in plastic by hospital staff before handing over the body to its relatives for cremation.”

The Bombay High Court rejected petitionschallenging the Mumbai civic body’s decision to designate cemeteries for bodies of Covid-19 patients, reiterating everyone’s
“right to a decent burial”.
It also emphasisedon the “right to a decent burial, commensurate with the dignity of the individual”, as being a part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The court pointed out that there was no evidence to support their claim that the disease could spread to people from infected bodies.
The court asserted that as long as the World Health Organization (WHO) and central government guidelines on the subject are being followed, it finds no reason to deny this right to those who pass away because of Covid-19.

The court also disapproved of the petition, calling it “misconceived and misdirected”.
The bench said that it should dismiss the petition with “exemplary costs” but refrained from doing so, saying that the petitioners may have approached the court out of panic, rather than genuinely believing that they actually had a strong case.
The court also took note of an earlier circularissued by BMC, which briefly disallowed the burial of Covid-19 patients and only permitted cremation.
But the 9 April circular corrected this, by notifying cemeteries to allow burials of Covid-19 patients as well. The court called the earlier move “drastic” and “without any scientific basis”, but appreciated the fact that it was rectified.
The bench began its judgment quoting Oscar Wilde.
“Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one’s head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forget life, to beat peace.”