Family disagreement cannot hold up a decent burial, Kerala High Court holds in a case of remains kept abroad

31 October 2026

The Kerala High Court has stepped in to secure the burial of a 71-year-old man from the State whose remains had been kept in a laboratory abroad for about a year and a half because his relatives could not agree. Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan held that there is a duty to see that a dead person is given due respect and a proper burial, whether the person was poor or wealthy. The Court said it must approach such a dispute not as a contest between the parties but as its own responsibility to secure a lawful and dignified burial. Disagreement among relatives, it held, must not be allowed to become an endless obstacle to that burial. The man had died in the United Arab Emirates and the body had not been brought home while the family quarrel went on. The order treats dignity in death as part of the protection the Court must give, and not merely a private family matter. It is the kind of ruling courts have built on the right to life to cover the treatment of the dead.