In the recent movement, adding to the chain of capital punishment in India four convicts of the 2012 Delhi Gang Rape Case were hanged today at 5.30 am in Tihar Jail, at New Delhi. In the aforesaid execution of death sentence in Tihar Jail at New Delhi, curiosity arises when it comes to the disposal of executed dead prisoners, its rules and procedures. How all it happens?
Delhi Prisons (Transfer of Prisoner, Labour and Jail Industry, Food, Clothings and Sanitation) Rules, 1988 highlight the guidelines to execute the disposal in dual conditions. First instance says “what may be the conditions under which a disposal of body of the executed dead prisoner made to the friends or family?”.
The body of the prisoner executed in jail, shall be made over to the friends or relatives of the deceased, if claimed by them before the body has been disposed of by cremation or burial, unless there are special reasons to the contrary, i.e., the prisoner has died of any infectious disease. Or if there are grounds for supposing that the prisoner’s funeral will be made the occasion for a demonstration. Furthermore, the friends or relatives of a deceased prisoner making application for the body after burial. Should be referred to the commissioner of police whether the deceased prisoner died of any infectious disease, how long he has been dead and whether. In the opinion of the Medical Officer of the jail, the body can be exhumed and removed with safety or without becoming a nuisance to the public.
The Second instance “ what if the disposal of a body not made to friends or family?”. The body of any prisoner dying or executed in jail. not made over to the friends or relatives of the deceased, shall be cremated or buried in the jail burial ground in accordance with the custom applicable to the faith of the deceased. All bodies prior to removal from the jail shall be wrapped in a new cloth. The Superintendents of certain jails in the province have been authorized by the Inspector General with the approval of the local Government to make over the bodies of prisoner who have died in jail, if not claimed by the friends or relatives to certain medical institutions named for the purpose. The authorities so given, extends only, to the case of prisoners who have died from natural causes, and not to the bodies of executed prisoners. It is rightly justified that a human body, whether alive or dead, cannot be the property of anyone. Nobody can lay claim to corpse as it is not property. When a prisoner dies, his sentence ceases, it merely remains, if the body is not made over to the friends or relatives of the deceased, to dispose of it in a seem manner so that it may not become a nuisance and so as riot to shock the feelings of the people.
As per the Rules, the land selected for a burial ground should not be in the immediate vicinity of the jail or any centre of population and not near the source of any drinking water supply; it should be seen that the prevailing wind does not blow from it towards the jail and that sufficient ground is secured to answer all requirements for at least fifteen years. There are certain mandates also highlighted in the rule book for the burial ground that it shall be kept clean and tidy and free from jungle and the graves disposed in regular rows, so as to economize space. Each grave should be marked with the name and the Register number of the prisoner. The growth of grass about the graves should be encouraged, but it should be kept trimmed, quick growing trees should be planted about the ground. In continuation with, the Superintendent and the Medical Officer shall visit the burial ground from time to time and satisfy themselves that it is properly kept and cared for. No grave shall be less than five feet deep. One or more graves shall be always kept ready for occupation. Subsequently, In filling in a grave, the earth should be well passed down so as to protect the body from the depredations of animals; the earth should be heaped up one foot above the surface of the surrounding ground.
Special care shall be taken that the bodies of those disposed of by cremation are completely consumed. Ashes of the body of a Hindu prisoner should be disposed of, 24 hours after cremation by burial or, in places where it is possible, by consigning them to the water of a neighboring river.