Date:07/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/07/stories/2007110762401200.htm

Tamil Nadu

Court arranges for transporting convict’s body to native town

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: Observing that the human dignity of a dead person continues till his last rites, the Madras High Court has made arrangements for the transportation of the body of a convict, who died in the Vellore Central Prison, to his native town in Haryana.

A Division Bench, comprising Justices P.D. Dinakaran and R. Regupathi, directed the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority (TNSLSA) to make necessary arrangements, and meet the expenses involved in the transportation of the body of Omprakash, who died on November 2. He was convicted in a murder-for-gain case and undergoing imprisonment for life.

After his death, his daughter Rajkumari filed a habeas corpus plea in the High Court seeking a direction to the Home Secretary and the Superintendent of Vellore Central Prison to transport the body by air to Ghaghot in Haryana.

The Bench considered various issues such as whether a dead person could be considered a detenue so as to become a subject matter of habeas corpus proceedings. Finally, it concluded that once a person was dead, the charge against him and his conviction would abate. “However, the human dignity of that dead person continues till his last rites.”

Free legal aid

Taking into consideration the human dignity and the plight of the daughter, the Bench then said Ms. Rajkumari was entitled for free legal aid under the provisions of the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987.

The Judges then directed G.M. Akbar Ali, Member-Secretary of the TNSLSA, to make necessary arrangements to meet the expenses towards transportation of the body of the detenue to Delhi by train, and also the train fare of Rajkumari for accompanying the body, “out of the funds collected by way of costs awarded by different courts.”

It asked the prison Superintendent to secure a coffin for the body, which would be identified by Rajkumari or Zaildar Singh, the son-in-law of the deceased and a co-prisoner.

On receiving the orders, Mr. Ali arranged for a private funeral agent, embalming of the body, an ambulance to carry the body to Chennai and travel to Delhi by the Grand Trunk express on Tuesday.