UP Hospital Dog Nibbling Case: Former Law Minister seeks uniform protocol to deal with dead bodies

The former minister referred to the "heart wrenching" visuals aired on various TV channels on November 27 showing a dog nibbling away at the remains of a dead girl dumped on a stretcher in a corridor inside a hospital.

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"The visuals represent the ultimate callousness and insensitivity for the dignity of the dead, repeatedly affirmed by this Court as a non-negotiable right at the pinnacle in the hierarchy of fundamental rights," Kumar said in his letter.

The senior Congress leader said that on an earlier occasion, the apex court had taken cognizance when the dumping of COVID-19 related dead bodies in a ditch was brought to its notice.

"It is most unfortunate that in these extraordinary times when the corona situation has overwhelmed the nation, and deaths are mounting, little attention is being paid to putting in place the requisite protocols for preserving the dignity of the dead as a foremost obligation of a State committed to the values of a dignitarian Constitution.

"At a time when daily mounting deaths in hospitals is a painful reality as is the piling up of dead bodies in mortuaries, the need for an enforceable and strictly observed protocol for dealing with dead bodies consistent with the dignity of the dead is an absolute imperative," the letter said.

Kumar said the nation looks to the apex court as the republic's moral and constitutional arbiter to exercise its moral authority and a wide constitutional remit to ensure that atleast in death, citizens'' right to dignity is respected.

"A uniform protocol to deal with dead bodies in the hospitals and mortuaries throughout the country needs to be put in place at the earliest in the present emergent and extraordinary situation. Let it not be said that a dignitarian democracy failed to live upto its most important obligation.

"It is respectfully prayed that this court take suo moto notice at the earliest of the heart rending visuals on TV and issue suitable binding guidelines, directions, writ, orders as deemed fit to ensure that throughout the country necessary protocols are established to deal with dead bodies, particularly in hospitals and mortuaries consistent with the dignity of the dead," the letter stated.

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