Karnataka High Court Seeks Carification On Death Certificate

The Karnataka High Court has ordered the state government to clarify if a death certificate from a hospital or medical professional is required for COVID-19 victims to be buried or cremated on private property or farms held by their relatives.

The April 21, notification stated that while hearing a bundle of PIL petitions on concerns connected to the epidemic, a Special Division Bench composed of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar gave the directive.

The government allowed the burial of COVID-19 victims on April 21 to minimise crowding at crematoriums and burial grounds and to guarantee the quick disposal of dead bodies in a decentralised manner. The Authorization granted the following requests from a huge number of relatives of deceased people.

On behalf of the petitioner, T.K. Sarvesh Kumar, it was argued that the "revised guidelines on dead body management in the context of COVID-19", only in the case of inter-district or inter-state transfer of bodies, the production of a death certificate in the approved format is required, according to an order signed on August 6, 2020, reported The Hindu.

The death certificates issued by hospitals ormedical officials are not required in cases of burial/cremation on private lands, COVID-19 patients' bodies may be disposed in private cremation without a medical certificate on cause of the death.

According to the petitioner, there could be major violations of the extensive safety guidelines to be followed during burial/cremation because there is no State regulation or control of last rites conducted on private lands.

Meanwhile, 4,329 deaths have been reported, the largest daily toll to date. On Monday, India reported 2.63 lakh fresh COVID cases.