Recently, a plea filed before the Delhi High Court stated that “The entire city has been turned into a cemetery, and Delhi residents are unable to perform the last rites and rituals of their loved ones with dignity.” 

Advocate Pratyush Prasanna filed a petition seeking the right to die with dignity for COVID-19 victims against the State of NCT of Delhi, the Union of India, the National Disaster Management Authority, and others.

The Plea claims that the massive increase in Covid-19 cases and deaths has resulted in a "backlog of dead bodies," and that even the city's largest crematoriums are either turning away bodies or charging higher fees for cremation. It's also been reported that a pet crematory is now being used to bury victims of the deadly virus. 

The Plea further states, “Due to the backlog, the bodies are even being asked to be kept in an AC room for a night because there is no space in the hospital mortuary, or any other mortuary in the state, for them to be kept. This is the type of trauma that a person goes through after losing a loved one to a pandemic.”

As a result, the Petitioner has requested an immediate increase in the number of mortuaries and crematoriums in Delhi, as well as alternative arrangements such as converting parks, fields, and stadiums into cremation sites. It is also recommended that adequate supplies of wood and other necessary materials be made available for performing last rites and other reliefs. The petition requests, among other things, that the Respondent authorities ensure that there is no jurisdictional issue with cremation and that people who have arrived at the cremation site with the dead body do not have to wait.

To this end, it is recommended that helpline numbers, mobile applications, and dedicated portals be established, where all information about cremation sites, burial sites, and other pertinent information can be gathered. The case will most likely be heard on May 4, 2021