NRI Corner 3

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[url="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/UK-Hindu-wins-right-to-open-cremation/articleshow/5558722.cms"]UK Hindu wins right to open cremation[/url]

NEW DELHI: An elderly man of Indian descent on Wednesday won the right to be cremated on a traditional funeral pyre in Britain, after a ruling by the Court of Appeal in London.



Mr Davender Ghai, who moved to Britain from Kenya in 1958 and is the founder of the Anglo-Asian Friendship Society, was refused a permit for an open-air cremation site in Northumberland, northeast England, in 2006, according to AFP.



The 71-year-old lost a challenge to the decision at the high court in London last May, but on Wednesday the Appeal Court said Mr Ghai’s wishes could be accommodated within existing legislation. Mr Ghai welcomed the ruling, although he said his court battle had drained him “physically, mentally and financially.”



“Now if I go tomorrow I will go peacefully, because I know that I will have a good send-off. Everyone should live and die according to their own religion,” he told reporters outside the court.



Britain’s Cremation Act of 1902, which covers the disposal by burning of dead bodies in crematoria, does not cover funeral pyres. The government, named as an interested party in the case, argued during the case that “others in the community would be upset and offended... and would find it abhorrent that human remains were being burned in this way.”



But Mr Ghai’s lawyers argued that denying him the right to an open-air pyre conflicts with human rights legislation which protects, among other rights, the right to freedom of religious belief.



Judge David Neuberger asked Mr Ghai’s lawyer what his client wanted and was told the funeral pyre should be made of wood and be open to the sky, but it could be surrounded by walls and the pyre covered with a roof with an opening.



“It seems to us that Mr Ghai’s religious and personal beliefs as to how his remains should be cremated once he dies can be accommodated within current cremation legislation,” said Neuberger, who led a three-judge panel.



A spokesman for Newcastle City Council, which rejected Mr Ghai’s initial application, said it now wants the home office to clarify guidelines on cremations.



“The Court of Appeal’s judgment, which is of national importance, advised that buildings of open-air design can fall within the definition of crematoria under the terms of the Cremation Act 1902,” it said.