UK High Court to Consider Hindu Request for Open-Air Cremation
Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com:80/1080721/jsp/nation/story_9578731.jsp
LONDON, ENGLAND, July 20, 2008: The high court will review British cremation laws that prohibit natural open-air rites. Hindus, Sikhs and Jains cremate their dead in gas crematoriums and the ashes are often taken to India for immersion in rivers. Community elders here have often expressed unease over the inability to follow their traditions.
The Newcastle-based Anglo-Asian Friendship Society (AAFS) launched a campaign for open-air cremations in 2007. The campaign, which has now reached the high court, included a series of petitions and demonstrations. Justice Andrew Collins of the high court declared that a judicial review petition submitted by Devendra Ghai of the society to establish natural cremation sites in Britain was of “considerable importance” and a full hearing in the court was “in the public interest”. “Hindus believe open-air funeral pyres are essential for the peaceful reincarnation of one’s soul,” Ghai said. “We are voicing the views of people who believe that such practices in the UK are not adequate. This will be a landmark case.”
A date for the hearing of the application has not yet been set. However it is likely to be opposed by the authorities on the grounds that any significant alteration to the technology of cremation currently deployed in licensed crematoriums would present a possible hazard to public health.
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