THE SANATAN Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) has received the court’s permission to advance a judicial review claim challenging the lawfulness of the Government’s policy prohibiting open-pyre cremations even for covid19 victims who were Hindus.
The Maha Sabha’s claim, filed on Thursday, is separate from a similar challenge by the daughter of a covid19 victim.
On Thursday, Justice Nadia Kangaloo granted the Hindu organisation leave to pursue its legal action against the Minister of Health.
She has set January 5 for the first hearing.
In its leave application, the SDMS said, as a religious institution, it has acted responsibly by holding consultations with the minister to arrive at a “proportionate approach” to open-pyre cremations to balance the risk of transmission of covid19 while addressing the “prohibitive and unmanageable costs of indoor cremations” for Hindu families.
It said it has offered several suggestions to the ministry but there has been no response.
It argued, “An open-pyre cremation is significantly less costly than indoor cremations, and this would have primarily redounded to the benefit of the Hindu community whose religious practice includes cremating as soon as possible in an open pyre.”
The Maha Sabha, which provided evidence from Dharmacharya (spiritual head of the SDMS) Dr Rampersad Parasram, its acting secretary general Vijay Maharaj and another pundit, detailed some of the measures suggested to the ministry which could allow Hindus to cremate their covid19 dead according to religious practices.
These included: keeping the body in a body bag in a closed casket; only allowing fewer than five people to conduct rituals; and not allowing anyone in the immediate vicinity of pyres during cremations.
The Maha Sabha intends to argue that the ministry has acted “disproportionately, unreasonably, and unfairly by continuing its policy of completely prohibiting open-pyre cremations of persons that are covid19-positive at the time of death.”
In its application, the SDMS wants a declaration that the policy is unlawful and an order quashing it, while sending it back to the minister to reconsider the SDMS's recommendations.
Maharaj and pundit Omardath Navin Maharaj outlined some of the hardship faced by members whose families died from covid19. Parasram, a former head of the St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital, spoke of the need of bereaved families for closure through performing their traditional final rights.
“When loved ones are unable to cremate their kin in the traditional religious way, it may have both short- and long-term consequences such as prolonged grief.
“I am of the belief that health policy needs to be sensitive to the cultural and religious norms within society and should seriously consider the importance and tradition of open-pyre cremations to the Hindu community,” he said.
The ban on open-pyre cremations is contained in guidelines for hospital staff and funeral agencies.
The Maha Sabha claims says at no time was it consulted.
It also said the policy was implemented befor
