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Delivering a significant remark on the right to a decent burial of the dead under Article 21 of the Constitution, the Madras High Court has held last week that it is the duty of the State to ensure that members of all the communities have access to a place of burial or cremation. 

A Division Bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy  held, 

“The right to life also encompasses the right to a decent burial or cremation. Consequently, the State is clearly under an obligation to ensure that members of all communities are provided access to burial/ cremation facilities.”

The petitioner, Venkatesan filed a plea before the High Court seeking directions to the State officials responsible for overseeing access of the residents to burial grounds, to allot a small portion of land in the corner of the common burial ground of his village Madhuravalli in Cuddalore District to his community as his community was restrained from burying or cremating their dead there. 

The petitioner stated that except persons belonging to the petitioner's community, all other communities in the area were being permitted to bury their dead at the said burial ground. Consequently, members of the petitioner's community were forced to great hardship as they were constrained to bury their dead at an adjacent waterbody.

It was further stated by the petitioner that despite several representations being made before the concerned officials regarding the matter, no action was taken towards providing relief to the petitioner’s community.

The Division Bench taking note of the breach of the rights of the dead directed the District collector, Cuddalore District to consider the representation of the petitioner submitted on behalf of all members of his community and to dispose of the same by a reasoned order within a period of eight weeks.

Last year, another Division Bench of this High Court comprising Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and M. Nirmal Kumar took up a suo motu PIL petition after a neurosurgeon’s body was being opposed to be buried in a cemetery of the area by local residents in the wake of rising infections by Covid-19 virus.  The Bench, observing that the fundamental right to life guaranteed under the Constitution includes the right to decent burial or cremation, issued a warning to the residents against raising objections to the disposal of the bodies of those who had died due to COVID-19 stating trespassing into a burial ground is a punishable offense.

Case Title: Venkatesan v. The Principal Secretary