In the ongoing appeal of the Surat Parsi Panchayat (SPP) over the right to perform dakhmenashini for victims of coronavirus, the Supreme Court (SC) has asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta to "find an amicable solution in resolving the grievances of the
Parsi community which is unable to perform the traditional burial of its members who died of Covid-19,” reported news magazine ndtv.com on January 10, 2022. The bench of Justices D. Y. Chandrachud and A. S. Bopanna requested Mehta to "use his office and have a word with the office of the director general of health services in order to tweak the existing guidelines for the burial of Covid victims.”
However, citing the risk of transmission of the virus, the Center has told the SC "that it will not be permissible to alter the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for disposal of dead bodies of Covid-19 victims so as to allow the Parsi way of letting the corpses decay in the open,” reported The Indian Express on January 17, adding, "Keeping the dead body exposed (without cover) without burial or cremation will not be a permissible way of disposal of dead bodies of Covid positive patients, the Union Ministry contended.”
Top: Fali Nariman Photo: Jasmine D. Driver;
Senior advocate Fali Nariman, appearing for the SPP, said the Parsis are the only community in the country that has professional pallbearers, but the guidelines do not mention any other mode of disposal of dead bodies, other than cremation and burial (see "Surat appeal admitted,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, December 21, 2021-January 6, 2022).
Chandrachud told Mehta, "We will ask Mr Nariman’s junior to share with you a 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,” reported legal website livelaw.in. "We are looking into it. It is not adversarial, it won’t be adversarial. Something can be found,” Mehta was quoted on the website.
SPP appealed to the SC against the Gujarat High Court’s (GHC) July 23, 2021 order dismissing its plea for consignment to the Towers of Silence the bodies of coronavirus victims. Admitting the plea, the SC had expressed its disapproval of GHC which termed the matter "academic.” The bench had added that the rituals would need to be modified to bring it in sync with other Covid guidelines.
The next hearing is scheduled for later this month.
Farrokh Jijina