HC refuses to relax burial conditions for Covid-19 victims

The Bombay high court (HC) has refused to issue any directions to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) with regards to burial of Covid-19 victims on the

The Bombay high court (HC) has refused to issue any directions to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) with regards to burial of Covid-19 victims on the grounds that there were no instances wherein families of victims were turned away by any graveyards in the city. The court was hearing a petition filed by activist Anjali Patil stating that the circular issued by BMC regarding burial of Covid-19 infected persons had conditions that were not available in all graveyards in the city. The petitioner sought directions from the court asking BMC to relax the conditions.

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On Wednesday, the bench of justice AA Sayyed while hearing two similar petitions -- one filed by Patil and another by Riyaz Ahmed Mohammed Ayub Khan -- was informed that BMC had issued a circular which stated that persons from the minority community who died after being afflicted by coronavirus could be buried but had laid down various conditions for the same. The petitioners submitted that the conditions were stringent and were not available across all graveyards, thus forcing the families of the victim to take the body to only those graveyards which complied with the conditions.

The conditions include wearing of masks by persons involved in the burial, sanitising the area where the mortal remains are kept, burying the victim in a secluded spot, among others.

However, the bench sought to know of instances wherein families of victims had been turned away either by graveyard trusts or BMC. Petitioners replied that there could be such instances but they were not aware of it. They added they had an apprehension that such a situation could arise in the coming days and hence sought directions to BMC and graveyard trusts to allow burial of Covid-19 victims in all graveyards.

The court then observed that it could not issue directions based on apprehensions of petitioners and posted the matter for further hearing on April 24.

In an earlier hearing on April 3, the court had refused to stay the circular issued by BMC on the grounds that it did not refuse burial of Covid-19 victims.