A BID by Davender Ghai (70) for the legal right to be cremated on a traditional open air funeral pyre has been rejected by the High Court in London.
Mr. Justice Cranston ruled that pyres were prohibited by law, and the prohibition was "justified". Ghai had appealed to the court invoking Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects religious freedom and Article 8, which covers the right to private and family rights, to overturn a decision by New Castle City Council in 2006, preventing a funeral pyre in a remote site in Northumberland.
Ghai, from Gosforth, Newcastle, told the judge that a pyre was essential to a "good death" and the release of his spirit into the afterlife.
"I will not deny my claim is provocative...in a nation as notoriously squeamish towards death as our own." He added that he wanted to die "with dignity" and not be "bundled in a box"....I honestly do not believe natural cremation grounds would offend public decency....along as they were far from urban and residential area."
But Mr. Justice Cranston, declining Ghai's appeal, said Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who had resisted Ghai's legal challenge, had argued that people might be
"upset and offended" by pyres and "find it abhorrent that human remains were being burned this way". He said while it was "a difficult and sensitive issue", the court had to respect the conclusion of elected representatives.
Those in support of pyres would have to change the "present balance of interests" through the political process, rather than the courts, he said.
vijay.dutt@gmail.com
Copyright: HT Media Ltd.
See earlier report
May 9, 2009
UK: High Court rejects Hindu's bid for open-air cremation
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NEW DELHI, India / The Hindustan Times / May 8, 2009
By Vijay Dutt in London
A BID by Davender Ghai (70) for the legal right to be cremated on a traditional open air funeral pyre has been rejected by the High Court in London.
Mr. Justice Cranston ruled that pyres were prohibited by law, and the prohibition was "justified". Ghai had appealed to the court invoking Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects religious freedom and Article 8, which covers the right to private and family rights, to overturn a decision by New Castle City Council in 2006, preventing a funeral pyre in a remote site in Northumberland.
Ghai, from Gosforth, Newcastle, told the judge that a pyre was essential to a "good death" and the release of his spirit into the afterlife.
"I will not deny my claim is provocative...in a nation as notoriously squeamish towards death as our own." He added that he wanted to die "with dignity" and not be "bundled in a box"....I honestly do not believe natural cremation grounds would offend public decency....along as they were far from urban and residential area."
But Mr. Justice Cranston, declining Ghai's appeal, said Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who had resisted Ghai's legal challenge, had argued that people might be
"upset and offended" by pyres and "find it abhorrent that human remains were being burned this way". He said while it was "a difficult and sensitive issue", the court had to respect the conclusion of elected representatives.
Those in support of pyres would have to change the "present balance of interests" through the political process, rather than the courts, he said.
vijay.dutt@gmail.com
Copyright: HT Media Ltd.
See earlier report
A BID by Davender Ghai (70) for the legal right to be cremated on a traditional open air funeral pyre has been rejected by the High Court in London.
Mr. Justice Cranston ruled that pyres were prohibited by law, and the prohibition was "justified". Ghai had appealed to the court invoking Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects religious freedom and Article 8, which covers the right to private and family rights, to overturn a decision by New Castle City Council in 2006, preventing a funeral pyre in a remote site in Northumberland.
Ghai, from Gosforth, Newcastle, told the judge that a pyre was essential to a "good death" and the release of his spirit into the afterlife.
"I will not deny my claim is provocative...in a nation as notoriously squeamish towards death as our own." He added that he wanted to die "with dignity" and not be "bundled in a box"....I honestly do not believe natural cremation grounds would offend public decency....along as they were far from urban and residential area."
But Mr. Justice Cranston, declining Ghai's appeal, said Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who had resisted Ghai's legal challenge, had argued that people might be
"upset and offended" by pyres and "find it abhorrent that human remains were being burned this way". He said while it was "a difficult and sensitive issue", the court had to respect the conclusion of elected representatives.
Those in support of pyres would have to change the "present balance of interests" through the political process, rather than the courts, he said.
vijay.dutt@gmail.com
Copyright: HT Media Ltd.
See earlier report
