Plea in SC seeks constitution of 3-tier committee to ensure dignified disposal of bodies

A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Centre and others to form a committee to ensure dignified disposal of bodies found floating in the river Ganga in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Delhi:Citing media reports about the dumping of bodies of COVID-19 victim into rivers, a PIL has been filed in Supreme Court seeking to constitute a three-tier committee at Central, State, and Panchayat, rural and municipal level to look after the disposal of bodies with dignity and rights.

The plea filed by Advocate Vineet Jindal through advocate Raj Kishor Choudhary said that bodies found floating in Ganga and Yamuna rivers in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh affected fundamental human rights of the Right to Health and Right to life which also include the right to die with dignity.

Declare that the river Ganga bed is an ecologically sensitive area and hence to be protected and preserved, stated the plea.

It further sought direction from the authorities to take appropriate steps to avail pure and safe drinking water to the people living near the banks of rivers so that they do not drink and use the contaminated river water helplessly.

Read:Alarm after hundreds of graves seen on India river bank

The plea further sought direction that authorities to conduct a door-to-door Covid-19 test or to organise medical camps for vaccination in such areas where the bodies are found along the river banks of the Ganges and other rivers, so that the infection may not spread to others from such respective places.

It asked for immediate action against such persons or officials who charge any amount of money in the name of performing last rites at the crematorium and the graveyard.

Read:Bodies wash up on shores of river Sarayu in Uttarakhand

Meanwhile, the Centre has asked Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to prevent the dumping of dead bodies in the Ganga and its tributaries, calling media reports of bodies of COVID-19 victims being dumped in the rivers "undesirable and alarming".

(ANI)