As per the police, on October 10, the victim had a fight with the suspect at the wedding. The victim along with his friends was making fun of the suspect which had led to the quarrel. (Representational Image)

Nine days after a 24-year-old died of cardiac arrest in UAE, his mortal remains were handed to the family members Monday early morning, along with two other Indians.

Kamlesh Bhatt, who died of a heart attack in Abu Dhabi on April 17 and his mortal remains along with two others were sent to India by Etihad airport services cargo on April 23. But it was sent back to the UAE by the immigration authorities in Delhi on April 24.

Following which, the deceased’s brother Vimlesh Bhatt, resident of Tehri Garhwal in Uttarakhand, moved the Delhi High Court on Saturday, seeking direction to the concerned authorities to bring back the mortal remains of his brother who was working in Abu Dhabi.

The issue came up for hearing through video conferencing before Justice Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva, who was told that “even though the requisite clearances were available, still the concerned authorities did not permit the unloading the mortal remains of the deceased at Delhi and they were flown back on the same aircraft”.

After the court’s intervention, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Saturday issued a memorandum revoking the earlier ban and said bodies and mortal remains would be permitted “subject to strict adherence to the guidelines …regarding the management of COVID-19 and submission of a no-objection approval/concurrence from Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)”.

The plea was listed for hearing Monday in the High Court, where advocates Rituparn Uniyal and Abhishek Kumar, who were representing Bhatt, said that “Kamlesh Bhatt, Sanjeev Kumar, and Jagsir Singh bodies arrived at Delhi airport Monday early morning after the government reversed its decision to ban coffins being brought back as a part of air cargo due to the coronavirus pandemic.”

Uniyal said that the other two were from Punjab and their family has also got the body and all of them left for their villages to perform their last rights.

Vimlesh has said in the petition that they were shocked to be informed by the cargo company that they were not allowed to unload the body of the victim due to some immigration issue despite having complete documentation and legal formalities which were required for repatriation of human remains to India as laid down by the MEA.

“In a most inhumane, insensitive and unexpected conduct of the respondents the human remains of the deceased were sent back to UAE on the same flight without citing any order/notification/circular or furnishing any medical report by a medical officer or giving any explanation or reason to the petitioner who kept praying for handing over of the mortal remains of his 24 years old younger brother,” the plea has said.