Denying last rites of people who have died from Coronavirus will attract a 3 year jail term in Tamil Nadu

• Denying the 'dignified' burial or cremation of anyone who has died due to coronavirus in Tamil Nadu will be met with a jail term of one to three years.
• The ordinance comes after the burial of two doctors, who passed away due to COID-19, was met with public protests.
• Both bodies had to be buried in different locations rather than the original sites with anyone who was trying to help met with anger from the locals.

Denying any patient who has died of Coronavirus is a criminal offence in Tamil Nadu. The government has issued an ordinance stating that anyone found denying a "dignified burial or cremation of those who had died of a notified disease" could face one to three years in jail.

The offence also comes with a fine, but the amount has not been specified.

The ordinance comes after the burial two doctors who passed away from COVID-19, in two separate incidents, was met with public protests. Locals were against them being buried in fear of the coronavirus being spread.

In the aftermath of both protests, the bodies had to buried in different locations since the offices could not perform the requisite formalities at the original burial sites.

One was a neurosurgeon — doctor Simon Hercules — who had to be buried by his associate, an orthopaedic surgeon. He used his bare hands and a shovel at one of the crematoriums — with the help of two hospital ward boys — after the undertakes fled due to mob violence.

Even after the relocation of the burial, where a group of people attacked the ambulance driver and other civic workers trying to help.

The medical fraternity and political leaders in the Tamil Nadu condemned the incident and demanded that such incidents should not be repeated.

So far, around two dozen people have been arrested in connection with the latest incident under the Epidemic Diseases Act and Indian Penal Code sections 147 (rioting), 148 (armed with deadly weapons), 307 (attempt to murder) and 332 (obstructing a public servant).

The local police have also issued a warning that the Goondas Act can also be invoked against those preventing burial or victims of COVID-19.

In order to prevent to spread of Coronavirus, the state has issued an "intense lockdown" in five cities — Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem and Tirupur.

It’s one of the worst-hit states by the Coronavirus in India. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Tamil Nadu has a total of 1,821 reported COVID-19 cases, with 960 cured and 23 deaths.

Chennai, on its own, has reported 495 cases, which makes up for one-third of the cases in Tamil Nadu.

(With PTI inputs)

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