KOCHI: Kerala High Court has directed the principal of Ernakulam Medical College to take a decision on whether the body of MM Lawrence should be handed over to medical studies or buried as per religious rituals after hearing all his three children. Till then, the body should be kept in the mortuary. This was on a petition filed by his daughter Asha Lawrence.

Justice VG Arun directed that a decision be taken as per the provisions of the Kerala Anatomy Act. MM Lawrence's two other children, Adv ML Sajeevan and Sujatha Boban, had given an affidavit to the medical college principal that their father had told them that the body should be handed over for study purposes. Asha argued that there was no written evidence in this regard. The siblings explained that their father had told them and his followers that his body should be given for medical study purposes. The court disposed of the petition directing the principal to hear the three children and take a decision after this.

The petition was brought to the court for consideration at 3 pm yesterday with special mention. The time when the body was scheduled to be handed over to the medical college was 4 pm.
"What my siblings are saying is a lie and there is no mention even in my father's autobiography that the body should be handed over for study purposes," Asha told the court. "CPM is behind the decision to the contrary. This is to show that their leader was not a believer. My permission was not sought in this regard. My father is a parish member. All religious ceremonies were performed properly," the petitioner argued. The petitioner also pointed out that her father's marriage and mother's funeral took place in the church.

The plea sought necessary police protection to bury the body at St Francis Xavier's Church Cemetery in Kathrikkadavu in Kochi. The petitioner had also raised an interim plea seeking a ban on handing over the body to the medical college.