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Religion, as Karl Marx says, is the opium of the masses, and governs a person’s life from birth to beyond death. It is a key determinant of the rites and rituals to be performed upon a person’s demise. Usually, religious tenets instruct people to either cremate the body of the deceased or bury it. However, during the pandemic, the burial or cremation of the deceased has to be reconsidered. The fear of transmission has led to various restrictions on the method of disposal of the dead body. With a massive increase in mortality rates, the issue of undignified disposal of the deceased came to the forefront.
In such a situation, infodemics created hysteria in the minds of people that burial may increase the risk of transmission of diseases and thus, discrimination was being made on the grounds of these myths. Residents of Kerala’s Kottayam district protested against cremation of the body fearing that the smoke and ashes from the dead body shall further lead to spreading of COVID-19. The Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation deriving its powers from Section 2, 3 and 4 of Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 issued an order prohibiting burials and mandating cremations and the violation of which would have been an offence under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code. However, the circular issued was withdrawn later. Thus, it became pertinent for a COVID Protocol to be issued and put these rumours to rest.
WHO: Busting the Myths
The World Health Organisation (WHO), in its interim guidelines issued on 24 March 2020, put all the rumours to rest and stated that burial of a body which succumbed to a communicable disease does not transmit the virus. Dignity of the dead and cultural and religious traditions should be respected while carrying out the last rites.
It also expressly stated that the body could be cremated or buried in compliance with the protocol issued. Clear guidelines with respect to the transfer of body to autopsy unit, crematorium or burial sites and measures to be taken in case of deaths at home or at funeral/burial homes were issued.
Later, on 7 April 2020, interim guidance was issued on practical considerations and recommendations for faith-based communities in context of COVID-19. The guidelines reiterated that “acceptable or appropriate embalming, burial, and cremation should be allowed for the remains of persons who have died of COVID-19.” All precautions, such as avoiding public gatherings, switching to virtual faith-based activities and safety measures during burial/cremation shall be followed.
Government of India’s and the Apex Court’s Take
The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Directorate General of Health Services, Government of India, issued COVID-19 guidelines on Dead Body Management. Embalming, touching or kissing the body has been prohibited and autopsies should be avoided. However, no specification as to the mode of disposal of the dead has been mentioned. Religious rituals which do not involve physical contact with the body have been permitted. Sanitary precautions were enlisted, which had to be abided by the family of the deceased and the frontline health care workers. The National Disaster Management Guidelines also provide that religious, cultural and ethnic beliefs of the deceased must be taken care. Authorities shall take cognizance of the local sensitivities while performing final rituals. Help from community representatives can also be sought for final disposal of the bodies.
Online viral videos showed Puducherry health workers dumping a dead body in a pit while staff of Kolkata Municipal Corporation dragged rotten bodies of deceased COVID patients from a crematorium. This propelled the former law minister, Ashwani Kumar, to write to the Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Justice Arvind Bobde to take suo moto cognizance of these incidents and undignified treatment to COVID-19 patients and deceased since the events have “shocked the conscience of the Republic committed to human dignity under the Constitution”.
On 12th June, the apex court took suo moto cognizance of the matter in writ petition (Civil) No(s). 7/2020, Re the Proper Treatment of COVID-19 Patients and Dignified Handling of Dead Bodies in the Hospitals etc. A notice was issued to Union of India, NCT of Delhi, States of Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat as well as to the LNJP Hospital in Delhi to “abide by the guidelines framed to ensure dignified handling of the dead bodies in the hospitals as well as the guidelines framed pertaining to Covid-19 hospital management”.
The Way Forward
To ensure dignified disposal of the dead, it is essential that the duties of Municipality/Municipal Corporation Chair must be enlisted to handle such a situation. The steps could be notified as Interim rules rules as followed by South or maybe complied with by passing executive orders. The South African government framed environmental Health Guidelines for the management of the deceased and disposal of the dead bodies which focuses onproper guidance provided to funeral undertakers on the management of infectious human remains. Similarly, India may follow the following plan of action:
Planning/ Managing Information: The course of activities to be undertaken and managing information on the database of deceased in the town, total number of crematoriums/burial sites and the ones open for cremation should be planned. In cases of death by a contagious virus, specific cremation/ burial sites must be allocated so that no hindrance is caused while performing the last rites.
Delegation of powers and assigning responsibilities: There are duties such as dissemination of information, allocation of resources, handling key logical responsibilities to be dispensed by public officers in times of a health emergency which can be dispensed through proper allotment of duties and responsibilities to the concerned officials. Bureaucratization should be as minimal as possible by reducing paper work, rigid or complex procedures and ensuring simpler working channels.
Allocation of resources: This step involves location and arrangement of volunteers and storage facilities and supplies such as body bags, protective clothing, tools, and communication equipment.
Implementing an action plan: To implement a plan, public officials may require support from private entities or citizens. Thus, timely tie-up with the people concerned such as individuals or organisations involved in logistical work and transportation services would help in smoother implementation of a plan.
Dissemination of information: As soon as the virus outbreaks, information on essential matters collected and drafted by the public authorities should be disseminated by municipality offices amongst the citizens through local newspapers and office orders to ensure that citizens are clear on issues such as protocol to be followed in case the individual succumbs to the virus, nodal authorities to be contacted and cremation/burial sites, their contact numbers, et cetera.
Logistics: Logistics is the process of getting the correct supplies, equipment, and people to the correct place at the correct time. A logistics leader or team should be appointed to ensure smooth implementation of any plan. Key logistical responsibilities include transportation of bodies to burial sites, of frontline workers to work sites, ensuring coordination in communication among field workers and requisite supplies such as personal protective equipment, sanitisers, et cetera.
Body recovery: The health authorities must identify and contact the survivors at the earliest and intimate them about the deceased. At times the deceased is unidentified due to various reasons such as massive deaths in a hospital/town, no whereabouts about the survivors, et cetera. In such a case, where no information could be gathered on the deceased or the survivor, last rites should be performed keeping in mind the deceased’s cultural or religious symbols.
Control measures: While, on the one hand, proper disposal of the deceased is taken care of, family of the deceased and frontline workers must take all precautionary steps necessary for preventing further spread of the virus. These guidelines were issued by World Health Organisation on 7th April and subsequently laid down by ICRC. .
Lessons from the UK
India invoked the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and the National Disaster Management Act, 2005 to deal with the public health emergency. These two archaic laws which do not define an epidemic or pandemic, has revealed huge gaps in India’s health laws. The legislation neither has any provision on disseminating information, vaccines, precautionary measures such as quarantine and other preventive measures that need to be taken nor does it have any mention of protocols and guidelines in the disposal of the dead who succumbed to the virus.
The United Kingdom offers insightful lessons for India regarding the same. The UK Government passed the Coronavirus Act 2020 on 25 March 2020. The legislation gives powers to the Parliament to make regulations and pass orders on subjects such as public gatherings, death management, monitor health care services, et cetera. As per Part IV, the method of disposal shall be contingent on the wishes of the deceased and if unknown, rites that appear to be consistent with his beliefs. Section 46(1) or (2) of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 is also applicable to the designated local authority to make arrangements for cremation or burial in case of no other suitable arrangements.. Subsidiary guidelines in line with Health Protection Regulations 2020 have also been issued, ensuring that the deceased are treated with sensitivity, dignity and respect.
A chapter of the consolidated legislation of India could be devoted to the disposal of the dead. It ensures uniformity of the method followed across states and protects the right to die with dignity under Article 21 of The Constitution of India. Thus, new composite legislation should be framed and it should provide a nodal authority which is represented by both centre and state for planning and executing the required measures such as isolation, quarantine, surveillance, testing etc. The scope of rights and duties to be levied on the governments should not be restricted to central and state governments. Clear delegation of powers and ample autonomy should be given to authorities at district, block levels and gram panchayats.
Conclusion
History is our best teacher and this pandemic has sent a message that India has a long way to go in improvising the health infrastructure of the country. Right to die with dignity is a basic human right and the recent incidents portray the sorry state of affairs in the country. The agonizing incidents bring home the fact that our welfare state needs to be extra sensitive and strike a harmonious balance between the right to health of the public at large and right to die with dignity of an individual. The archaic colonial laws that govern matters pertaining to disaster management need a revamp. In addition to health laws, misinformation on digital platforms also needs to be curbed. Thus, information hygiene can be maintained by ensuring easy fact checking tools or reporting fake news. The two arms of a sword i.e. health and information should be coordinated to ensure safety, security and dignity in a global pandemic.
This article has been authored by Preetkiran Kaur, a fourth year student of Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab.
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