Anadi Tewari
Taking note of a large number of deaths and media reports of the mismanagement of COVID-19 infected bodies, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday (14 May) has issued certain advisories to the Centre and State Governments of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to ensure that the rights and the dignity of the dead are protected.
This advisory has been issued in the context of notice issued on Thursday (May 13) to the Centre and the required States on a complaint made about the floating of dead bodies in the Ganga river.
In this advisory, the Commission has stated that:
“The right to life, fair treatment and dignity, derived from the Article 21 of the Constitution of India, extends not only to the living persons but also to their dead bodies. It has noted that despite High Court and the Supreme Court judgements, international covenants, guidelines by WHO, NDMA, Govt. Of India regarding the maintenance of Covid protocol upholding the dignity of the dead, reports are coming in the media about lowering the dignity of the dead during Covid-19 pandemic.”
The Commission has gone on to note the fact that currently there are no laws to protect the rights of the dead in India but however while drawing references from the interpretation of constitutional mechanism and various judgments of the Court, the Commission has stated that:
“It is the duty of the State to protect the rights of the deceased and crime over the dead body and prepare an SOP in consultation with all stakeholders so that the dignity of the dead is maintained.”
Some of the necessary recommendations the Commission has provided for extending dignity to the dead are:
(i) Enact specific legislation to protect the rights of the dead; It should be the duty of every citizen to inform, after noticing any incident of death, immediately to the nearest police station and/or to emergency ambulance services or the administrative/ legal authorities, whichever feasible;
(ii) Each State must maintain a district-wise digital dataset of death cases;
(iii) Death of a person must be simultaneously updated in all documents such as Bank Account, Aadhar Card, Insurance etc.
(iv) The Police administration should ensure that there is no undue delay in post mortem;
(v) The Hospital administration should be explicitly prohibited from deliberately retaining any dead body on the count of pending bill payment; the unclaimed bodies must be stored under safe conditions;
(vi) The local authorities should ensure that the transportation facilities are available to transport the body of the deceased at the request of family members and the arbitrary hike of ambulance charges is curbed;
(vii) The CSOs/NGOs should come forward to take up the responsibility of performing last rites of the unclaimed and unattended bodies in a dignified manner;
(viii) Set-up temporary crematoriums; Religious rituals that do not require touching of the dead body may be allowed such as reading from religious scripts, sprinkling holy water etc.
(ix) In cases where the repatriation of the body to the family may not be possible, the State/Local Administration may perform the last rites of the body, taking into account the religious/cultural factors.
(x) Piling up of dead bodies during transportation or at any other place must not be allowed to happen. Encourage use of electric crematoriums; Mass burial/cremation should not be allowed to take place as it is in violation of the right to dignity of the dead.
(xi) Staff handling dead bodies including those at crematoriums/ burial grounds should be provided protective gear along with the vaccination on priority and they should be fairly paid.
In a letter through its Secretary-General, Mr Bimbadhar Pradhan to the Union Home Secretary, Union Health & Family Welfare Secretary and the Chief Secretaries/Administrators of States and Union Territories, the Commission has asked for the implementation of its recommendations in the Advisory and the action taken report within 4 weeks.
Details of the Notice issued on May 13 to Centre, the States of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh
While issuing notice, the Commission went on to observe that:
“It seems the public authorities have failed to take concentric efforts in educating the masses and checking the immersion of half-burnt or unburnt dead bodies into the River Ganga. The practice of disposal of dead bodies in our sacred river Ganga is clearly in violation of guidelines of the National Mission for Clean Ganga project of Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation.”
“The River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Authorities Order, 2016, which relates to the measures for prevention, control and abatement of environmental pollution in the river Ganga and to ensure continuous adequate flow of water so as to rejuvenate the River Ganga to its natural and pristine condition and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, has laid down not only the comprehensive principles to be followed for rejuvenation, protection and management of River Ganga but also cast a duty that – “No person shall do any act or carry on any project or process or activity which, notwithstanding whether such act has been mentioned in this Order or not, has the effect of causing pollution in the River Ganga,” the Commission went on to note in the notice issued.
Background of the Issue
As per news reports, at least 96 unidentified bodies while many of them decomposed and bloated, have been found floating in the Ganga over the past couple of days. While 71 of the bodies have been fished out in Bihar’s Buxar district, at least 25 bodies were found in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur district.
Click Here To Download The Detailed Letter Of Advisory issued