Woman moves SC to bring son's body for last rites

NEW DELHI: Is cremation as per the dead person's religion and accompanying rituals a fundamental right of his kin? The question came up when a mother told Supreme Court that her son, who had died at Sharjah (UAE) where he was working as a carpenter, was cremated on foreign soil by the authorities there with his family members being denied the right to perform the last rites.

A resident of Basti in UP, 57-year-old Savitri informed SC that her 29-year-old son Pankaj, who was working with World Star Company, Sharjah, for the last two years, had gone incommunicado since Dec 2. She then lodged a complaint with Basti police on Jan 10. On Feb 4, she received a call from the Indian Embassy in Dubai informing her about Pankaj's death and his cremation there. Appearing for her, senior advocate Sanjay M Nuli told a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta that as a mother she was entitled to ensure her son was given a decent cremation. "Cremation is one of the Sanskars, that is Antim Sanskar -- an important ritual which could not have been compromised with in any manner or situation and denying the mother her right amounts to gross violation of fundamental and human rights as enshrined under Articles 21 and 25 of the Constitution," Nuli said. The bench issued notice to the Union govt and sought its response by March 16.

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