It is a matter of grave concern that we are getting to learn more and more reported incidents of manhandling of Covid patients/dead bodies. What is even more tragic to learn is that this is happening more with those patients who are not able to cough up huge astronomical sum of money as demanded by the hospitals where they are admitted! This is certainly a cause of grave concern for all of us who are Indians and judiciary too must take serious note of it.

To be brutally honest, this most serious issue has been lying unattended since a long time. No one is taking a serious note of it. Who is responsible for this pathetic state of affairs?

Truth be told, this has been brought to the fore by none other than the former Union Law Minister of India - Dr Ashwani Kumar who also happens to be an eminent and a senior advocate of the Supreme Court. He has addressed a letter directly to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) - Sharad Arvind Bobde and Justices of the Supreme Court highlighting the grave infraction of the citizen's right to die with dignity amid the Covid-19 pandemic. He has very rightly and commendably asked the CJI to take suo motu notice of various reported incidents, whereby persons suffering from Covid-19 infection are being ill-treated and their dead bodies are being manhandled.

To be sure, Dr Ashwani Kumar has specifically drawn the attention of the CJI towards a tragic, barbaric and shocking incident in Madhya Pradesh where an elderly man suffering from Covid was tied to a bed, after he allegedly failed to make payment of fees for his treatment in the Shajapur-based hospital.

Similarly, in yet another case, he pointed out that in the Union Territory of Puducherry, a video had surfaced whereby government workers – four men in PPEs could be seen throwing the body of a Covid-19 positive man into a pit. Less than 30 seconds later one of the men is heard telling a government official that they have thrown the body for which the official shows thumbs up in approval!

Of course, it is quite clear that the frontline workers ignored a series of Covid protocol while handling the body! The video shows the dead person was merely wrapped with a white cloth and not in a bag as mandated in such cases.

The cloth wrapped around the body also opened up as it was dropped exposing the workers to tremendous risk of infection. It is not yet clear if the body was duly embalmed. The undignified handling of the Covid patient has led to massive outrage in Puducherry!

In his elegant and effective style, Dr Ashwani Kumar points out in his hard hitting letter that:
The tragic and condemnable sight of a Covid-19 patient being chained to a bed in a hospital in Madhya Pradesh and another sight in Puducherry of a dead body being thrown in a pit for burial, has shocked the conscience of the Republic committed to human dignity under the Constitution, which recognizes dignity as a core constitutional value at the pinnacle in the hierarchy of non-negotiable constitutional rights.

To start with, Dr Ashwani Kumar first and foremost points out in his letter addressed to the CJI and Justices of the Supreme Court that, This letter is intended to highlight and bring to the notice of the apex court, a case of grave infraction of the citizen's right to die with dignity recognized by this Hon'ble Court on various occasions.

Reference is invited inter alia to the decisions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in:

• Kharak Singh v State of UP & Ors 1964 SCR (1) 332
• Pt. Parmanand Katara v Union of India 1995 (3) SCC 248,
• Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan v Union of India (2002) 2 SCC 27 and
• the Constitution Bench in Common Cause v Union of India (2018) 5 SCC 1

Reference is also invited to recent judgments of the Madras High Court in a Suo-Motu PIL and Bombay High Court in Pradeep Gandhy v State of Maharashtra, declaring a fundamental right to die with dignity embracing right to decent burial or cremation. These judgments constitute the law of the land and are binding on all authorities, as actualizing the promise of the Constitution.

Going forward, Dr Ashwani Kumar then further goes on to add in his letter that:
I may also add that the notified protocols for cremation in the capital city, reported piling up of bodies in hospitals and mortuaries, non-availability of adequate cremation/burial grounds and the reported non-functioning of electric crematoriums constitute distressing and an unacceptable violation of Right to Die with Dignity.

Most importantly, it is then pointed out by Dr Ashwani Kumar in the concluding part of his letter that, Since the Court has the duty and the power to ensure that the law declared by it is actually enforced, it is requested that the Court takes suo-motu notice of the matter. In view of the shocking infraction of the fundamental right to dignity, as is evidenced from the enclosed NDTV report (Annexure 'A'), Your Lordships are respectfully requested to issue such orders, writs or other directions as will effectuate the citizens right to die with dignity.

Speaking for myself, I feel that it is high time and now Centre must come forward immediately and take the laudable initiative to make right to die with dignity a fundamental right just like to like to life is as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution! For this the Constitution will have to be amended and that must be done accordingly! Political parties must come forward and join hands in ensuring that it is approved unanimously by both Houses of Parliament as early as possible! This is the crying need of the hour also! It brooks no more delay anymore now!

Sanjeev Sirohi, Advocate,
s/o Col BPS Sirohi, A 82, Defence Enclave,
Sardhana Road, Kankerkhera, Meerut – 250001, Uttar Pradesh.