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Solicitor General Tushar Mehta placed the agreed upon standard operating procedure before a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant. (File) The Supreme Court Friday approved a revised protocol for disposing bodies of Parsi Covid-19 victims. This came after the Centre and community members reached an agreement according to which the “Tower of Silence” will be covered with an iron grid so that birds and animals cannot come into contact with the corpses placed inside.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta placed the agreed upon standard operating procedure before a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant. According to this, the bodies of the Parsi Zoroastrians who die of Covid-19 will be brought to the funeral parlour in the Tower of Silence complex and will only be handled by fully vaccinated Nassasalars — professional corpse-bearers — in PPE kits and other safety equipment. The family and friends will not be permitted to touch the body and will always remain 10 feet away.
The SoP also recorded the assurance of the petitioner Surat Parsi Panchayat Board. “Since the principal mode of disposal at the Tower of Silence is through strong and powerful rays of the Sun, and hence to deal with the problem of birds of prey, the Petitioner undertakes to install as soon as possible, a metallic bird net over Dokhma-No 3 – which is exclusively reserved for the dead Parsi COVID-19 victims; this will eliminate contact with birds and animals and will avoid any intrusion by vultures. Hence, there will be no exposure of the body to birds, etc. once the metallic net gets installed over Dokhma-No 3”.
Approving the scheme, the bench lauded the efforts of Senior Advocate Fali S. Nariman and the Solicitor General in reaching the settlement.
The Board had earlier approached the Gujarat High Court seeking to declare the 2020 Covid-19 guidelines on body management, as ultra vires the Constitution as it impeded the rights of the Parsi community which disposes of bodies by letting them decay in the Tower of Silence.
The High Court dismissed the plea on July 23, 2021 following which the Board approached the SC.
In the top court, the Union Health Ministry initially highlighted concerns about the possibility of the virus spreading to animals if not cremated or buried properly.
On January 17, the bench said the petitioners had submitted a draft protocol saying they would take care of the health concerns and asked the SG to see if any additional safeguards can be introduced to make it foolproof.
On Friday, accepting the revised SOP for the community, the SC set aside the HC order.
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