HC notice to authorities on burial of unclaimed bodies

Madras High Court today ordered issuing of notice to government authorities on a petition seeking a direction to constitute national and state level committees to bury unclaimed bodies lying in government hospital mortuaries in a dignified manner.

When the petition by M S Sivakumar of the Founder Help Centre, an NGO, came up for hearing, the First Bench, comprising, Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Kumar Agrawal and Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar ordered notice to respondents and posted the matter for March 21.

The petitioner sought a direction to authorities to constitute core committees at the national and state level to bury unclaimed bodies in government hospital mortuaries after proper identification and in a dignified manner with the assistance of National Legal Services Authority in Delhi.
 

Referring to the body of a labour from Odisha, lying unclaimed in Government Stanely Hospital here, he sought a direction to concerned officials to issue a letter to hospital authorities to handover the body to the police to bury it in a dignified manner.