He said he could not understand why UK Hindus would want to dispose of bodies in an "antiquated" manner although he would not object to outdoor cremations taking place if legally permitted. Jay Lakhani, from Hindu Academy educational body said: "Hindu scriptures should be interpreted judiciously and teaching does allow interpretation in a modern way." However, some Hindus see the AAFS's approach as a backwards step. In 2006, Mr Ghai and the AAFS escaped prosecution after cremating the body of a 31-year-old Sikh man at a secret location in Stamfordham, Northumberland.Ī cremation in Northumberland did not lead to prosecution "In the end this case could come down to the nebulous issue of whether this is seen as 'British' or not," he said. Mr Bogan said Hindu cremations were only now becoming an issue as the immigrants of the 1960s and 1970s reached old age.īut he expects lawyers for Newcastle City Council and the government to portray the practices as "abhorrent". The AAFS is proposing open-air cremations take place in designated sites in rural or semi-rural locations away from public areas. Mr Bogan said government tests after the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak and an AAFS-commissioned report found no harm to health or the environment from pyres. So what are the objections to open-air cremations?Īccording to the AAFS, past opposition on health and environmental grounds no longer applies. "There can be some tokenistic symbolism at a crematorium but really it's just disposal of a body," Mr Bogan said. They will cite past cases that were not subject to prosecution, including the 1934 open air cremation of the Nepalese ambassador's wife in Surrey.Īccording to Andrew Singh Bogan, the AAFS's legal adviser, parts of the 1998 Human Rights Act covering freedom to practise religious beliefs could also be relied on.Īt a Hindu cremation, the corpse is bathed, usually dressed in traditional white clothes and decorated with sandalwood and flowers. The rituals at a Hindu cremation date back some 4,000 years Hindus in particular see open-air cremations as the best way to liberate the soul from the body.Īt the High Court, lawyers for Mr Ghai intend to argue that open-air cremations are not "necessarily unlawful". In South Asia, most cremations for Hindus and Sikhs are held outdoors, often on the banks of a river regarded as holy. This has resulted in some UK Hindus sending the bodies of deceased relatives to India for a ceremony which dates back some 4,000 years. Similar acts are in force in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Under the Cremation Act, the burning of bodies in England and Wales is restricted to designated crematoriums. "Hindus should cremate before the following sunset too and yet we, along with the general public, wait for up to a week." "Local authorities routinely provide separate Muslim and Jewish burial grounds and out-of-hours registration and immediate or weekend burials. "I believe a person should live and die according to his own religion," said the Uganda-born 70-year-old, who has been living in the UK since the 1970s. Now Mr Ghai, a Hindu campaigner and founder of the Anglo Asian Friendship Society charity, is seeking a judicial review of the decision. It maintained the burning of human remains anywhere outside a crematorium was prohibited under the 1902 Cremation Act - a ruling the Ministry of Justice agrees was correct. In 2006, Newcastle City Council blocked Mr Ghai's attempt to establish the UK's first approved site for open-air funeral pyres. If Davender Ghai gets his way in the case due to be heard on Tuesday, traditional Hindu cremations could become commonplace across England and Wales. The High Court is being asked to rule on the legality of open air funeral pyres. Mr Ghai was denied a licence for a pyre site in 2006
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