Court issues notice to the Centre for sending back the body of Indian youth who died abroad

In this article, Deputy News Editor of ETV Bharat, Krishnanand Tripathi writes about the notice issued by Delhi High Court to the central government for sending back the mortals remains of Kamlesh Bhatt to Abu Dhabi despite his relatives having requisite clearance of the MEA to receive his mortal remains in Delhi.

New Delhi: Delhi High Court today issued notice to the Union government for sending back the dead body of 23 years old Kamlesh Bhatt to Abu Dhabi despite his relatives having requisite clearance of the MEA to receive his mortal remains in Delhi.

The refusal by home ministry officials deprived the grieving parents from performing the last rites of their child in India and left them clueless about the present status of the mortal remains of their son.

Vimlesh Bhatt, a cousin of the deceased Kamlesh Bhatt, Saturday moved to Delhi High Court against the decision of the officials of Bureau of Immigration who refused the permission for unloading of the mortal remains of Kamlesh Bhatt from an Etihad flight EY9809 at Delhi airport on the night of April 22-23.

Vimlesh Bhatt, who had reached Delhi by arranging a special pass to travel amid a nationwide lockdown, had to go back as the authorities not only refused to offload the body but the officers, handling the matter at Delhi airport, also refused to share a copy of the purported MHA circular that was used as a ground for refusing the permission.

According to the sources, the Etihad flight that carried the mortal remains of three Indians, including that of Kamlesh Batt, was sent back to UAE as the Bureau of Immigration officials refused the permission for offloading the bodies.

High Court conducts special hearing on a holiday

“It is contended that even though the requisite clearances were available, still the concerned authorities did not permit the unloading the mortal remains of the deceased at Delhi and they were flown back on the same aircraft,” said Delhi High Court in its order while issuing the notice to the Union government.

Rituparn Uniyal, Vimlesh Bhatt’s counsel, sought a direction to the Union government for bringing back the mortal remains of Kamlesh Bhatt to India so that his family members can perform his last rites here.

The family also informed the court that they were not aware about the present status of the mortal remains of Kamlesh Bhatt after they had been flown back to Abu Dhabi.

In his order, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva, issued the notice to the Union government, which was accepted by Kirtiman Singh, the Central Government’s Standing Counsel in Delhi High Court, in a hearing conducted through video conference.

“The government will find out from the concerned embassy about the location and condition of the mortal remains of the deceased Kamlesh Bhatt which were flown back from India,” Additional Solicitor General Maninder Acharya informed the court through the video link.

The High Court decided to take up the matter on holiday as the lack of bureaucratic coordination between different ministries of the Union government deprived Kamlesh Bhatt’s parents from performing his last rites as per their customs & traditions.

Kamlesh Bhatt’s parents, who are yet to come to terms with the sudden loss of their young child in a foreign country, were left clueless as the body was flown in and out of India within hours without giving the family members a copy of the purported MHA circular behind the new protocols.

“Given the human tragedy involved in this case, hon’ble justice Sanjeev Sachdeva reached the High Court on a holiday to participate in the hearing conducted through the video conference,” petitioner’s advocate Rituparn Uniyal told ETV Bharat.

He, however, added that the advocates from both the sides participated in this virtual hearing from their places.

Additional Solicitor General Maninder Acharya also informed the court that the matter was discussed at the highest level in the Government of India and a standard operating procedure (SOP) will be framed so that other families will not have to face the similar problem in future. The Court has adjourned the matter till Monday.

In a related development, the ministry of home affairs Saturday clarified that the mortal remains of the Indian citizens and OCI cardholders, who died abroad, can be received in the country by obtaining clearance from the ministry of health, and the ministry of external affairs.

What prompted swift action by the Court

According to the sources in the gulf region, mortal remains of three Indians, one from Uttarakhand and two from Punjab, have been awaiting at Abu Dhabi for their transportation to India.

These mortal remains had been transported to India on an Etihad flight EY 9809 on the night of April 22-23 but were sent back to Abu Dhabi due to new protocols of the ministry of home affairs, leaving the families devastated as they were waiting for the bodies to perform their last rites.

Family members of the deceased persons had reached Delhi amid a nationwide lockdown but the immigration authorities at the airport refused the offloading of the dead bodies and the Etihad flight was sent back within hours.

According to the sources, none of the three deceased persons had died due to the infection by the novel Coronavirus.

According to the post-mortem report of Kamlesh Bhatt, a copy of which was reviewed by ETV Bharat, the cause of his death was cardiac arrest and not the Covid-19 virus.

The highly infectious Sars-CoV-2 virus has killed over 779 people in the country and over 2 lakh people worldwide.