KOCHI: A tussle between the children of the late CPM M M Lawrence emerged on Monday after his daughter Asha Lawrence approached the Kerala High Court challenging the decision of her brother M L Sajeevan and the CPM to donate her father's body to the Government Medical College, Kalamassery, without conducting burial rites as per the Christian traditions.
Hearing the petition, Justice V G Arun directed the principal of Government Medical College, Kalamassery, to take a decision in this regard after considering the objection raised by Asha Lawrence.
The State government informed the court that Lawrence's body will be preserved for sometime at the Medical College after taking it over. Hence, no further orders are required regarding the manner in which the body is to be kept.
Meanwhile, dramatic scenes unfolded at Ernakulam Town Hall where the mortal remains of Lawrence was kept, with Asha and her son barging into the hall raising slogans against CPM.
They were forcefully moved from the Town Hall by the police and the body was later shifted to the mortuary of the Government Medical College, Kalamassery.
In her petition, she pointed out that her siblings Sajeevan and Sujatha Boban had informed the media of their decision to hand over the body to the medical college. According to Asha, this decision was made unilaterally by her siblings and CPM's Ernakulam District Secretary (C N Mohanan).
Asha said that though her father was a member of the CPM, he was not opposed to religion or religious beliefs. Her siblings and the CPM leadership took the decision, claiming that Lawrence had orally told Sajeevan that his wish was to hand over the body to the medical college.
However, Asha refuted the claim, arguing that her father never expressed such a wish, either verbally or in his recently published autobiography. The CPM took this decision to keep the image that their leader was an atheist.
Asha further stated that her father was a member of the parish and had consistently followed Christian rites and rituals throughout his life. She maintained that he was not opposed to the Christian religious faith.
She also argued that the decision to donate the body was politically motivated, and her siblings were pressured into following it.
Moreover, she highlighted that, as a daughter, her consent had not been sought, making the decision illegal.
Asha contended that donating the body without burying it in the church would cause her irreparable loss. She also requested police protection for her to bury her father's body at St. Francis Xavier Church, Kathrikadavu, Kaloor, following Christian faith and rituals.
M L Sajeevan, son of M M Lawrence, told TNIE that both he and his sister Sujatha have the affidavit as per which the body of the late CPM leader will be donated to the Medical College.
"It is unfortunate that Asha is creating such a controversy and saying all sorts of lies regarding my father being a practicing Christian. He never prevented us from going to church. But he never went to the church. He had expressed his desire to donate his body to the medical college both to me and many of his acquaintances," he said. He also added that Asha was playing into the hands of people with political agendas.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan paid his homage to Lawrence at Ernakulam Town Hall, where the body was kept for the public to pay their last respects.