AFTER HATHRAS INCIDENT, YOGI GOVTIN UP PREPARE SOPS FOR CREMATIONS

Lucknow, Aug 10 The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has prepared detailed standard operating procedures (SOPs) that will be submitted before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court for dignified cremation of deceased in incidents like the Hathras gang – rape and murder. A double-judge bench of Justices Rajan Roy and Jaspreet Singh had, on August 5, di- rected the state government to sensitise and counsel officials/ employees involved in such cremation to strictly follow it and achieve the objective. The court also directed the state government to notify, implement the SOPs and widely publicise it at police stations, hospitals, primary health centres, district headquarters, tehsil and collect orates, among other places. The high court had taken suo motu cognizance of the Ha- thras rape and murder case on October 1, 2020 and directed the state government to prepare an SOP for dignified cremation of bodies af- ter incidents like these. On September 30, 2020, the district administration in Hathras had cremated the girl during night hours against the wishes of her parents. “The officers and employees under the state who are to be involved in cremation of such bodies should be sensi- tised and counselled to follow the scheme/SOP strictly, and in a manner to achieve the objective rather than to defeat it.