COVID-19: Delhi HC takes suo motu cognizance on claims of inadequate facilities at cremation grounds
May 28, 2020
New Delhi [India], May 29 : The Delhi High Court on Thursday took suo motu cognizance on the basis of a news report that claims inadequate facilities at the cremation grounds to perform last rites of the people who passed away due to COVID-19.
It was noted from the news report that the CNG furnaces are not functioning at Nigam Bodh and Punjabi Bagh crematoriums and some of the bodies had to be returned. There is a pile of over 100 bodies at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital hospital.
While taking suo motu the court observed, "We, as citizens of Delhi are pained at the aforesaid state of affairs and as judges find the situation as reported and if true, to be highly dissatisfactory and violative of the rights of the dead."
Court directs the Delhi government and Municipal Corporations, who are entrusted of various Cremation and burial grounds in Delhi, to enable them to obtain instructions and present the facts before it.
