Man's mortal remains from UAE brought to India, last rites performed, HC informed

The Delhi High Court has been informed that the mortal remains of an Indian citizen who died recently in the UAE, and were returned the first time, were brought back and his last rites have been performed by his family in Uttarakhand.

The matter reached the high court when his brother submitted that the 24-year-old Kamlesh Bhatt died of heart attack in Abu Dhabi on April 17 and his mortal remains were sent to India by Etihad airport services cargo on April 23, but the body was returned to UAE from Delhi due to immigration issues.

During the Monday's hearing, conducted through video conferencing, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva was informed by the petitioner's counsel that with the intervention of the Centre and the Uttarakhand government as also due to the efforts of social worker Roshan Raturi at UAE, the mortal remains of his brother reached Delhi in the morning.

Advocates Rituparn Uniyal and Abhishek Kumar, representing deceased's brother Vimlesh Bhatt, said the mortal remains were transported to Uttarakhand where his last rites were performed.

They added that they have instructions to withdraw this petition.

Additional Solicitor General Maninder Acharya, appearing for the Centre, submitted that the Standard Operating Procedure has been issued by the government in the form of guidelines for importation of human remains related to COVID-19.

The Centre had on April 25 told the court that it will find out from the concerned embassy about the location and condition of the mortal remains of Bhatt.

The petitioner, a resident of Tehri Garhwal in Uttarakhand, had sought direction to the authorities to bring back the mortal remains of his brother who was working in Abu Dhabi. On April 17, his family in India received the information regarding his death due to sudden cardiac arrest.

The plea said that on April 23, a social worker at UAE shipped the human remains from Etihad Airport to Delhi's International airport and even the petitioner was informed when the cargo had arrived here.

However, they were shocked to be informed by the cargo company that they were not allowed to unload the body of the victim due to some immigration issue despite having complete documentation and legal formalities which were required for repatriation of human