CHANDIGARH: Staging protest by preserving or using corpse of person to bargain or to raise any demand is going to be crime in Haryana now. As the Haryana Cabinet, headed by CM Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday granted approval to “The Haryana Honourable Disposal of Dead Body Bill, 2024.” This landmark legislation aims to ensure the decent and timely last rites of a dead body.
This will be tabled in the forthcoming budget session of the assembly and once it is passed there, this will become a law. With this, nobody would be able to protest by using dead body and violators shall invite a criminal case with penalty of fine as well as imprisonment which shall be defined in the bill.
Notably, Haryana has a history of such protests where kins of the deceased would stage protest with dead body to negotiate with administration or authorities to get their demands approved. In a process, it would take days and would put civil as well police authorities on the tenterhooks to convince them for cremation.
Such incidents have been reported during the farmers agitation, jat reservation stir, custodial deaths, deaths while working on electricity poles etc. Besides this, there had been incidents when even kins of slain victims of murders too had carried out such protests.
According to proposed bill, In consideration of the respect and dignity owed to a dead person, nobody should be allowed to raise any demand or bait for pursuing any demands by way of any protest or agitation by not performing the timely last rites of a dead body. It is essential to prevent any individual from using a deceased body as a means of protest or demonstration in any form.
The proposed legislation also emphasizes the responsibility of public authorities in cases where family members disown a deceased body, leading to a denial of proper last rites. In such instances, the public authority is mandated to step in and ensure the dignified and timely conclusion of the last rites for the dead body.
Government claims that the entitlement to dignity and fair treatment, in accordance with Article 21 of the Constitution of India, extends beyond the living to include the body after death.
This will be tabled in the forthcoming budget session of the assembly and once it is passed there, this will become a law. With this, nobody would be able to protest by using dead body and violators shall invite a criminal case with penalty of fine as well as imprisonment which shall be defined in the bill.
Notably, Haryana has a history of such protests where kins of the deceased would stage protest with dead body to negotiate with administration or authorities to get their demands approved. In a process, it would take days and would put civil as well police authorities on the tenterhooks to convince them for cremation.
Such incidents have been reported during the farmers agitation, jat reservation stir, custodial deaths, deaths while working on electricity poles etc. Besides this, there had been incidents when even kins of slain victims of murders too had carried out such protests.
According to proposed bill, In consideration of the respect and dignity owed to a dead person, nobody should be allowed to raise any demand or bait for pursuing any demands by way of any protest or agitation by not performing the timely last rites of a dead body. It is essential to prevent any individual from using a deceased body as a means of protest or demonstration in any form.
The proposed legislation also emphasizes the responsibility of public authorities in cases where family members disown a deceased body, leading to a denial of proper last rites. In such instances, the public authority is mandated to step in and ensure the dignified and timely conclusion of the last rites for the dead body.
Government claims that the entitlement to dignity and fair treatment, in accordance with Article 21 of the Constitution of India, extends beyond the living to include the body after death.
