Can Parsi Funeral Rites Be Permitted For COVID Deaths? Supreme Court Seeks Solicitor General's Assistance

With the view to balance religious sentiments with health concerns so far as the manner of last rites of Parsi Zoroastrians who have died in the COVID-19 pandemic is concerned, the Supreme Court on Monday requested the assistance of SG Tushar Mehta.The bench of Justices D. Y. Chandrachud and A. S. Bopanna was hearing a plea by the Surat Parsi Panchayat Board for a direction to permit it and its members to perform Dokhmenashini/last rites in Dokhmas of its members having died due to Covid 19, in accordance with their religious practices. The SLP was against the July 2021 judgment of the Gujarat High Court dismissing the petitioners' prayer for declaring the impugned 2020 Covid-19 Guidelines on Dead Body Management, issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, as ultra vires Articles 14, 19, 21, 25, 26, and 29 of the Constitution. "The impugned Guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare considering the prevailing situation of Covid-19, in the larger public interest for the disposal of dead bodies by cremation or burial, could not be said to be violative of any fundamental rights of the Parsees, more particularly when such means of disposal of dead bodies is also in vogue in all parts of the country and when it is not anathematic and sacrilegious to the religious practices being followed by the Parsees", the High Court had held. At the previous hearing on December 6, 2021, Senior Advocate Fali S. Nariman, for the petitioners, had told the Supreme Court, "In Parsis, there are Nasheshalars, who are professional corpse-bearers. But the Guidelines do not mention any other mode of disposal of dead bodies, other than cremation and burial. Article 21 is not just for living people but also for post death...Now, there is a new strain of the virus. It is a live issue".On Monday, Justice Chandrachud put to the SG, "We will ask Mr. Nariman's junior to share with you a written note which Mr Nariman has circulated. They have proposed the manner in which the last rites can be carried out. Please look into it and come back? If it is something which can be tweaked and we can come out with something? It affects the sentiments of the community...If you could take instructions from the Director-General of Health and Family Welfare? If it comes from the Union of India, then we can resolve it....""We are looking into it. It is not adversarial, it won't be adversarial. Something can be found...", assured the SG.The bench then proceeded to dictate its order- "Senior Advocate Fali S. Nariman has submitted a written note indicating the manner in which obsequial rites of Parsi Zoroastrians who have died as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic would be carried out. He submits that the proposed guidelines will sufficiently meet the concerns of the union Government. But, at present, the guidelines which have been issued by the union government in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare do not take into account the concerns of the community. We have requested Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General of India, to render assistance by evaluating the proposed guidelines. Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka appears for the State of Gujarat. On the request of the SG, list on January 17"At the previous hearing, issuing notice on the plea, Justice Chandrachud had observed, "Some part of the rituals may have to be modified, considering the aspect of the corpse-bearers' health...there is a very interesting judgment of the Bombay High Court, by Justice B. N. Srikrishna, on the importance of obsequial rites. In connection with the issue of burial in the Dawoodi Bohra community, the judgment traces the history of burial and obsequial rites and how, since times immemorial, the same have been the very essence of a faith"It has been submitted on behalf of the petitioners that respondent No.1 issued guidelines, namely "Covid-19 Guidelines on Dead Body Management", whereby two modes i.e. either cremation or burial are identified for the disposal of the dead body, who died due to Covid-19. According to the petitioners, the said guidelines are completely silent on the other mode of funeral/disposal of dead bodies and impliedly ignoring the other religious practices of other communities. Accordingly, the respondent authorities do not allow the Parsi community to follow their religious and customary mandates of the last rites of the Parsi, who died due to Covid-19 pandemic. As regards the religious practices of "Dokhmenashini", it has been stated that the Parsis across India since several centuries have practised "Dokhmenashini", wherein the dead body is kept at a height in a structure known as "Well/Tower of Silence" to be eaten by vultures and the remains being exposed to the Sun to be decomposed. The well is situated at a secluded place and would be accessible to "Nasheshalars", who handle the dead body and place it in the well. Most of the Parsees prefer Dokhmenashini for the final disposal of their dead bodies following their...

Can Parsi Funeral Rites Be Permitted For COVID Deaths? Supreme Court Seeks Solicitor General's Assistance

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