’Home cremation’ is not illegal

The daughter who attempted to cremate her mother's body in her own land may not have broken the law

'Home cremation' is not illegal

The daughter who attempted to cremate her mother's body in her own land may not have broken the law

Mamatha Engineer, the advocate-daughter of 82 year old Ananda Gowri who expired on Saturday, knew her law after all. According to some legal experts, she has not broken any law in attempting to cremate her mother's body.u00a0 First in her own plot of land and later inside the family home after her own brother and neighbours opposed it.

"There is nothing wrong in burying or cremating a body in one's own land if there is a death certificate issued by a registered doctor. It's their sentiments, and no one can raise objections against it," said Navkesh Batra, and advocate at the Supreme Court.

In the view of noted criminal advocate Anees Khan however, such things should not be allowed. "For every religion there is a particular place and the body should be taken to a cemetery or a burial ground. Just because some one has spacious land they can't bury the body there. Every one should keep the environment in mind and also it is quite hazardous to health."

Grisly events

Forty eight-year-old Mamatha, a resident of Chamarajpet, has been in the centre of controversy after the incident. The trouble started when she tried to cremate her mother's body in the vacant lot next to her house, both owned by her mother. Her brother, who lives on the first floor of the houseu00a0 and neighbours objected to this. In a grisly turn of events, Mamata is then said to have moved the body inside the house and set it on fire in the corridoor, after dumping kerosene-soaked mattresses and rags on it.

The Kempegowda Nagar police which arrived on the scene then managed to force their way in and douse the fire, before arresting Mamata and taking the half-burnt body for post-mortem. According to Mamata, she only wanted to follow her mother's last wishes to be cremated on the family's own land.

Post-mortem was conducted on Gowri's (Mamatha's mother) body, which was then taken to Banashankari burial ground by the deceased's brother and a neighbour.

Sources also said that there was some dispute between Mamatha and her brother over the family property.

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