CHENNAI: A special bench of the Madras High Court on Monday took suo-motu cognizance of the violent incidents that took place when the body of a doctor, who had served the humanity in treating coronavirus patients, was taken for burial at Velangadu on Sunday. The bench has issued notices to the authorities concerned.
The bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and M Nirmal Kumar, which took cognizance of the incident, suo-motu issued notices to the State Chief Secretary, secretaries of Home and Health departments, the DGP and the Commissioners of Greater Chennai Police and Corporation, returnable by April 28.
"In the considered opinion of this court, the scope and ambit of Article 21 of the Constitution include right to have a decent burial. It prima facie appears that as a consequence of the alleged acts, a person who practiced the noble profession of doctor and breathed his last, has been deprived of his right to have a burial in a cemetry earmarked for that purpose and that apart, on account of the law and order and public order problem created, the officials who have performed their duties appear to have sustained grievous injuries," the bench noted.
"This court can also take judicial notice of the fact that the information relating to the guidelines to be followed in respect of COVID-19 cases are available in public domain at the instance of the State and central governments as well as through social media and the people are expected to be aware of the guidelines issued from time to time. Citizens are not expected to take law and order into their hands and if it is so, the same would definitely lead to anarchy and there would be a likelihood of similar kind of incidents to occur in future also. Therefore, this court in public interest issues notices," the bench said.
In the third such incident in Tamil Nadu, corporation officials were forced to give up their plans to bury a 55-year-old doctor, who died of COVID 19 on Sunday, in the Kilpauk cemetery.
Late in the night, they took the body to the Velangadu burial ground that is about three kilometres away. But even as a JCB machine was involved in digging, an angry mob from the neighbourhood objected to burying the body in the crematorium and went on to vandalise the ambulance in which the doctor's body was kept.
A few officials and staff even suffered bleeding injuries in the assault. Only after the police provided protection could the body be buried, that too hurriedly and without using the JCB machine.