04-11-2007, 08:19 PM
From Pioneer, 11 April 2007
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->UK Hindus push for cremation law review
Nandini Jawli | London
High Court allows judicial review application
A Hindu charity organisation has won a first step in its fight to legalise Hindu funeral ceremonies in the UK. The High Court has now approved seeking a judicial review of the present ban on open air funeral pyres, raising hopes of the Hindus here to get the permission for performing the last rites in the traditional way.
High Court Judge, Justice Andrew Collins, has now declared that the burning of bodies in the open 'is not necessarily unlawful' and said the subject was 'an issue of considerable importance'. He said he is allowing the application for a judicial review in the public interest. The judge ruled that a full hearing should be held to establish the legality of the ceremony as a matter of interest.
The judge added, "The point it raises is of some considerable importance to the Hindu community and will not go away. Therefore, the court should decide on its potential lawfulness."
Davender Ghai, president of the Anglo-Asian Friendship Society, has been given permission to file a judicial review by the High Court, in order to test the present cremation law. <b>The appeal came after he organised the first open air funeral pyre in the UK for Rajpal Mehat in a Northumberland field in July, last year.</b> Britain has 559,000 Hindus and many are expected to opt for an open air cremation if it is legalised.
The Department of Constitutional Affairs and Newcastle City Council said the group had acted illegally under the Cremation Act 1902. Northumbria Police, who had originally given the charity permission to go ahead with the ceremony, also launched an investigation.
Ghai insisted he had not breached any regulations. Following this, Davender Ghai of Newcastle, had lodged a judicial review in the High Court with the help of a human rights barrister.
Britain has 559,000 Hindus and many are expected to opt for an open air cremation if it is legalised.
No date has been fixed for the judicial review application, which will be led by human rights barrister Tony Kumar Muman and Ramby de Mello. If the High Court disagrees with the application, then the case will be pursued on a human rights basis.
The Hindu charity feels that Hindus, being the third largest faith group in Britain, should be allowed to undertake their funeral rites like the other faith groups.
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This is an important case in UK. I remember the shock waves the first open air cremation sent thorw Conservative circles in US. The US based radio news broadcaster Paul Harvey commented on it and wondered what the world was coming to as it goes against the concept of burial and Resurrection etc.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->UK Hindus push for cremation law review
Nandini Jawli | London
High Court allows judicial review application
A Hindu charity organisation has won a first step in its fight to legalise Hindu funeral ceremonies in the UK. The High Court has now approved seeking a judicial review of the present ban on open air funeral pyres, raising hopes of the Hindus here to get the permission for performing the last rites in the traditional way.
High Court Judge, Justice Andrew Collins, has now declared that the burning of bodies in the open 'is not necessarily unlawful' and said the subject was 'an issue of considerable importance'. He said he is allowing the application for a judicial review in the public interest. The judge ruled that a full hearing should be held to establish the legality of the ceremony as a matter of interest.
The judge added, "The point it raises is of some considerable importance to the Hindu community and will not go away. Therefore, the court should decide on its potential lawfulness."
Davender Ghai, president of the Anglo-Asian Friendship Society, has been given permission to file a judicial review by the High Court, in order to test the present cremation law. <b>The appeal came after he organised the first open air funeral pyre in the UK for Rajpal Mehat in a Northumberland field in July, last year.</b> Britain has 559,000 Hindus and many are expected to opt for an open air cremation if it is legalised.
The Department of Constitutional Affairs and Newcastle City Council said the group had acted illegally under the Cremation Act 1902. Northumbria Police, who had originally given the charity permission to go ahead with the ceremony, also launched an investigation.
Ghai insisted he had not breached any regulations. Following this, Davender Ghai of Newcastle, had lodged a judicial review in the High Court with the help of a human rights barrister.
Britain has 559,000 Hindus and many are expected to opt for an open air cremation if it is legalised.
No date has been fixed for the judicial review application, which will be led by human rights barrister Tony Kumar Muman and Ramby de Mello. If the High Court disagrees with the application, then the case will be pursued on a human rights basis.
The Hindu charity feels that Hindus, being the third largest faith group in Britain, should be allowed to undertake their funeral rites like the other faith groups.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is an important case in UK. I remember the shock waves the first open air cremation sent thorw Conservative circles in US. The US based radio news broadcaster Paul Harvey commented on it and wondered what the world was coming to as it goes against the concept of burial and Resurrection etc.