Funeral SOP For Parsi Covid Victims can’t be changed, Centre tells Supreme Court

Ambika bhardwaj

Published On: January 17, 2022 at 19:39 IST

It has been told by the Central Government to Supreme Court that it will not start changing cremation/burial protocols for the bodies of COVID-19 victims in order to accommodate Parsi funeral rites, which conventionally allow corpses to decompose naturally.

Further, it was stated by the Government that these rites require exposing the body, which may still comprise active traces of the coronavirus, to professional pall bearers, increasing the risk of the virus spreading.

The Government also claimed that if the bodies of Covid-infected people were not buried or cremated, they would be subjected to the environment and animals. However, Parsi rituals forbid the cremation of dead human bodies.

The petitioner had decided to move to the Supreme Court after the Gujarat High Court had dismissed his plea.

The Government’s response was sought by the bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna.

Previously, the High Court ruled that the Health Ministry issued guidelines in the greater public interest for the disposal of dead bodies that could not be considered a violation of Parsis’ fundamental rights.

The High Court denied the Board’s petition, stating that “more notably, when such means of disposing of dead bodies are also in vogue in all parts of the nation, and when it is not hateful and sacrilegious to the religious practises followed by the Parsis.”

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