This petition was filed by Pradeep Gandhy and others who were the local residents of Bandra in Mumbai, Maharashtra. They all filed the petition and claimed that their would be a community spread of the virus if the dead body is not fully disposed, in response to that the BMC in a affidavit said that dead bodies do not transmit any disease. It added that till date there was no evidence of any person getting infected with COVID-19 from a dead body and hence the contentions raised by the petitioners is lacking any scientific basis and entirely erroneous, misconceived and baseless. The affidavit was submitted on Tuesday before a bench headed by the Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and said the World Health Organisation had issued guidelines dealing with infection prevention and control for the safe management of a dead body infected with the coronavirus.

“The guidelines clearly stipulate that except in cases of haemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola virus and cholera, dead bodies are generally not infectious. Only lungs of patients with pandemic influenza, if handled improperly during an autopsy, can be infectious,”.

“Disposal of dead bodies infected with COVID-19 is done in the safest and most hygienic way possible without causing any threat, danger to residents of the vicinity and all guidelines and precautions are followed,” the affidavit said.

In another point they put in front of the High Court is that they had a separate area that has been marked in Bandra Qabristan for burial of COVID-19 bodies. And this was far away end of the ground and away from nearby residential colonies.

Even the family members of such victims are not allowed to touch the body, they are only allowed to see the deceased. The contentions of these residents were further opposed by the trustees of the Qabristan. Their counsel told the bench that due diligence was being carried out while burying the dead bodies. The counsel also argued that the residents have failed to place on record any scientific material to show that the virus spreads through dead bodies. He also cited the circular of the Union government, issued last month, which pertained to disposal of dead bodies of coronavirus.

Notably, the local residents had locked up the Qabristan on April 13 and disallowed the civic body to bury a Covid-19 victim. However, another bench of Justice Burgess Colabawalla had last month ordered the officials to break open the locks and bury Covid-19 victims in the cemetery.