Satya Prakash
New Delhi, November 28
Noting that it didn’t want to keep the pot boiling over dead bodies, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Manipur Government to ensure dignified burial/cremation of 175 bodies kept in mortuaries by December 11 “without any interference by any party”.
A three-judge Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud said either the next of kin of the deceased persons can claim the bodies or the State of Manipur will go ahead and perform the last rites at nine sites identified for the purpose as per the municipal laws.
“We don’t want to keep pot boiling over dead bodies,” said the Bench which also included Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra.
The Bench passed the order bearing in mind the fact that violence has taken place in the state since May 2023, it would not be proper to further keep the bodies in mortuaries in Imphal and Churachandpur.
The Bench ordered the state government to intimidate the next of kin about the nine sites on or before next Monday.
Regarding identified but not claimed bodies, it said, “the State shall issue a communication on or before Monday (December 4) intimating that they are permitted to carry out last rites in one of the nine sites in the next one week (by December 11).”
Allowing the State Government to perform burial/cremation with religious rites of all unidentified bodies, the top court directed the District Collector concerned to ensure law and order during the last rites.
It asked the Manipur Government to issue a public notice regarding identified but not claimed bodies and allowed it to conduct their last rites after a week, if the bodies remained unclaimed.
In view of the fact that criminal investigations were underway, the Bench said in the event DNA samples had not been drawn from the bodies at the time of autopsy, DNA samples shall be taken before burial/cremation.
It asked the Manipur government to facilitate the relatives to access the bodies for identification and performance of last rites.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta cited Justice Gita Mittal Committee report to point out that NGOs were not allowing families to claim bodies for performing last rites.
Mass burial/cremation could lead to fresh tensions, Mehta said, adding NGOs were threatening the families coming forward to take bodies for burial.
As senior advocate Colin Gonsalves insisted on mass burial as per tribal rites, the Bench took exception to it, “The whole idea seems to keep the pot boiling on dead bodies… Why do you create obstruction?” the CJI commented.
The Bench set a timeline for burial/cremation of identified and claimed, identified but not claimed and unidentified bodies.
Despite repeated demands, the Bench didn’t allow sharing of the Committee’s report with the petitioners.
Gonsalves accused the Manipur Government of leaking the report to the media even before it was pursued by the court.
Citing the committee’s report, the Bench said there were 175 recorded deaths. Out of 169 identified bodies 81 had been claimed and 88 remained unclaimed while six bodies had not been identified.
The hearing witnessed acrimonious scenes with Mehta questioning Gonsalves’ locus standi and the latter accusing him of trying to bully the petitioners.