In absence of any law, societal norms have to prevail: HC

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday observed that in the absence of any law about disposal of dead bodies, customs of the society have to prevail.

The observation was made by the HC bench of justice Mahesh Grover and justice Shekher Dhawan during the resumed hearing of a bunch of appeals challenging a single-judge order on the last rites of ‘clinically dead’ Jalandhar-based Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan (DJJS) head Ashutosh.

The bench observed that wherever laws are not there, there are societal norms. In India, societal norms call for cremation of a dead body. However, a question could be raised whether this could be termed liberal in legal terms, the bench said, after the state apprised it that there is no law regarding disposal of dead bodies, except for the unclaimed bodies.

The DJJS counsel argued that Ashutosh’s body is not a danger to the public health and environment and in the absence of any law on disposal of mortal remains, the DJJS be allowed to keep it as such.

The counsel argued that saints of his stature are born rarely and even if it is assumed that he is dead, the DJJS should be allowed to preserve the remains since there are various examples where bodies had been preserved.

However, the court remarked that such a scenario could lead to a very dangerous proposition. “There are so many areas where the law is not there but customs of society prevail,” the HC bench observed.

The DJJS, the state government and one Dalip Kumar Jha, who claims to be Ashutosh’ son, had filed appeals against the single-judge order of December 2014 asking the government to perform the last rites of the selfstyled godman.