Right to die with dignity: Former Law Minister writes to CJI to take suo moto on mishandling of COVID-19 dead bodies

After several cases of mishandling of coronavirus infected dead bodies reported by the media houses, senior advocate and former law minister Ashwini Kumar has written a letter to the Chief Justice of India to take suo moto in the matters pertaining to dignified cremation/burial of the dead bodies.

New Delhi:Former Law Minister, Ashwini Kumar, has written a letter to the Chief Justice of India, SA Bobde, requesting the Supreme Court to take suo moto notice of the matters pertaining to dignified cremation/burial of the dead bodies to ensure citizens' Right to die with dignity. He has written the letter in the wake of Madhya Pradesh and Puducherry Hospitals incidents, where a patient was chained and a dead body was thrown into a pit respectively.

A private hospital in Madhya Pradesh's Shajapur, where an 80-year-old patient was allegedly tied to a bed over non-payment of bills which amounts approx Rs 11,000. However, the hospital authority denied the allegations and said he was having convulsions and was tied so that he could not hurt himself. It had further informed that they had waived off the bill on humanitarian grounds.

Similarly, a video of Puducherry government workers had surfaced showing them throwing the COVID-19 infected person's dead body into a grave. A man was also heard saying that they have "thrown the body in the pit". Reportedly the norms of disposing of a COVID infected body were also not followed risking the workers' health as well.

Kumar writes that the incidents have "shocked the conscience of the Republic committed to human dignity under the Constitution, which recognizes dignity as a core constitutional value at the pinnacle in the hierarchy of non-negotiable constitutional rights."

Adding on further he writes that the notified protocols for cremation in the capital city, reported piling up of bodies in hospitals and mortuaries, non-availability of adequate cremation/burial grounds are in violation of 'Right to Die with Dignity'.