Jaipur Abhayindia.com Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Kumar Dhariwal said Rajasthan’s Dead Bodies Respect Act 2023 will effectively stop the mistreatment of dead bodies while maintaining their dignity. As part of this bill, DNA and genetic profiling of unclaimed corpses will also be carried out to preserve the data so that they can be identified in the future.
Dhariwal was responding to a discussion of the Rajasthan Dead Body Respect Bill at the Vidhan Sabha on Thursday. After discussion, the bill was adopted by a vote. The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs said that the trend towards protests with the abandonment of the bodies of the dead is increasing every day. There were 82 such incidents from 2014 to 2018 and 306 from 2019 to date. There are currently no provisions in the law to deal effectively with such incidents, which is why this bill was introduced.
The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs said that if family members do not take the body of the deceased, the bill provides for a punishment of up to one year and a fine. Along with this, punishment and a fine of up to 2 years are provided, even if family members use the corpse as a sign of protest. Similarly, a provision was made to punish a non-family member with a sentence of 6 months to 5 years and a fine for using a corpse in protest. He said that the Executive Magistrate was given the right to perform the last rites of the deceased within 24 hours. This period may also be extended under special circumstances. In addition, if family members have not performed the farewell ceremony for the deceased, the last ceremony may be performed by a public authority.
Dhariwal noted that in the petition for a civil court, Aashrai Adhikar Abhiyan v. Union of India, the Supreme Court gave directions for the dignified burial or cremation of dead bodies. In pursuance of these instructions, important provisions were introduced into this bill, such as the respectable cremation of unclaimed corpses and the protection of information about genetic genetic data and the confidentiality of information through DNA analysis and the digitization of these corpses. At the same time, a record of unclaimed corpses will be kept, and it will also be possible to identify them in the future. He reported that by 2023, 3,216 unclaimed corpses had been found in the state. Earlier, the House of Representatives rejected a proposal to circulate the bill to ascertain public opinion.