Dead body cremated in neighbour's yard; high court order to exhume and cremate corpse in public crematorium

KOCHI: High Court has directed to exhume the body of the mother who was cremated in the neighbour's backyard by her son without their permission and bury the body in a public crematorium. Justice VG Arun directed Amballur gram panchayat secretary on the complaint filed by the land owner. The family land of the deceased housewife was earlier sold to the petitioner. Ignoring this, the son cremated the body at this place.

On the complaint filed by the land owner in this regard, the Fort Kochi sub-collector had given instructions on October 7, 2022, to take out the dead body, which was cremated on the land owner's land without his permission, and cremate it in a different location. Amballur Panchayat was also instructed to take out the dead body and bury it in a public crematorium if the son was not ready for this. Following the order of the sub-collector, the area was measured and it was found that the body was cremated in the neighbour's land. Still, the son refused to move the body.

The owner of the land approached the High Court against the non-implementation of the sub-collector's order, while the son of the deceased housewife came to oppose the order. The Gram Panchayat's position was that only orphaned bodies can be taken over and cremated in a public crematorium. The claim of the son was that the dead body was accidentally buried in the petitioner's backyard. However, the court held that the mother's body can be considered abandoned by the son's act. It can only be hoped that such acts do not come from the children, the court said.