COVID-19: PIL seeks additional places for cremation of dead bodies, Court issues notice

By Sushil Batra
New Delhi [India], May 5 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi to allocate additional permanent or temporary places for the cremation of dead bodies in national capital and also to form such guidelines for the cremation of ones whose loved ones cannot cremate them due to COVID-19.
A Bench of Justice DN Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh today while seeking response from respondents said the one petition with almost similar prayers was also heard yesterday. "We are issuing a notice and will hear both the matter on May 17," the court said.
The Petitioner, Jaswinder Singh Jolly through Advocate Naginder Benipal stated that, there has been a sudden spike in the number of deaths due to coronavirus cases since April 2021 in Delhi and the families of the deceased are facing severe difficulty in cremating their loved ones.
According to the plea, words cannot express the helplessness among hundreds of people waiting to cremate the deceased at the ground. The families are running from pillar to post to find a facility for cremation and are being made to wait for as long as 20 hours for performing the last rites, due to lack of pyres.
The catastrophic second COVID-19 wave ravaging the country has led to a steep surge in deaths of coronavirus patients in Delhi, with crematoria witnessing a huge influx of bodies and the families of the deceased are facing severe difficulty in cremating their loved ones in a noble manner.
In such adverse situations, the family members of the deceased person are being made to run from one cremation facility to another due to lack of cremation space as well as wood. This leads to mental harassment of the family of the deceased, who are already suffering from the trauma of losing their loved ones, plea read. (ANI)