Kerala High Court To Hear Daughter's Appeal Against 'Donation' Of Late CPI(M) Leader MM Lawrence's Body On December 5
Manju Elsa Isac
28 Nov 2024 4:54 PM IST
Daughter of late veteran CPI(M) leader MM Lawrence, Asha Lawrence has moved an appeal before the Kerala High Court against the decision of a single judge which had allowed the handing over of her father's body to Ernakulam Medical College
The appeal was heard on Thursday by a division bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice S. Manu.
Soon after the death of Lawerence on September 21, Asha Lawrence approached the Kerala High Court to prevent handing over her father's body to Medical College by her siblings and CPI(M). She argued that her father never expressed any interest to donate his body to the medical college. She urged that the body ought to be buried according to the Christian rites.
The Single Judge had noted that the deceased had expressed his wish to donate his body to the medical college in the presence of 2 witnesses and thereby fulfilled the requirement under Section 4A of the Kerala Anatomy Act.
Moving an appeal against this decision Asha has stated that the claim that the deceased has asked his body to be donated has not been verified or scrutinised. She also submitted that the request should be made to an authorised officer as per the Act and not just in presence of 2 witnesses.
She also pointed that during the course of the writ petition before the Single Judge, her sister had withdrawn her consent to donate the body to medical college. She also argued that the hearing conducted by the Principal of the medical college into her objections was done without following principles of natural justice.
The Case is posted for December 5.
Case Title: Asha Lawrence v State of Kerala and Others
The plea was moved by Advocates Krishna Raj, R Pratheesh (Aranmula), E S Soni, Sreeraja V, Laxmi Priyaa N P.
Case No: WA 1857/ 2024
