SC upholds Madras HC verdict setting aside order to exhume body for reburial at native place

New Delhi, Nov 21 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Madras High Court verdict that set aside an order permitting the exhumation of the remains of a man who died during the Covid pandemic in 2020 for reburial at his family graveyard.

Hearing a plea filed by the deceased's wife, challenging the Madras High Court division bench's verdict, an apex court bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta refused to interfere and observed that the situation at the time of the pandemic was different.

The top court bench noted that the petitioner had approached the high court four years after her husband's death and said that if it allows such a prayer, then there would be a host of cases of a similar nature.

"We do not find any reason to interfere with the high court order," it said.

A Madras High Court division bench, in July, set aside an order by a single judge directing authorities to permit the deceased's wife to exhume his body and to rebury the remains in the family graveyard at their native place in accordance with the Protestant Christian rites.

The judge had quashed a January 2024 order passed by authorities rejecting the woman's request.

The HC division bench had said the reasons cited by the judge quashing the order were not justifiable under law since there was nothing to indicate that the deceased was not given a decent burial as enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution.

"Further, after performing all the rituals and prayers, a grave/tomb was constructed for the deceased," it had said.

The Madras HC division bench had also said that if it allowed exhumation of the body, it would create a precedent for all those families who lost their loved ones due to Covid and would seek exhumation of the bodies.

The high court had noted that the man, who was down with Covid, was admitted to a hospital in Chennai, and he died due to a heart attack in August 2020.

"It is pertinent to mention that exhumation of a buried body raises complex issues relating to dignity and the rights of the deceased as well as the right of their families," it had said. PTI ABA ABA NSD NSD