Bengaluru: How low and perverse can people get?
In what can be described as crimes of absolutely deplorable nature, incidents of offences have been reported ‘against dead bodies of women’.
Yes, you heard that right — attendants at mortuaries have sexual intercourse with lifeless bodies!
The Karnataka High Court, hearing a case of murder and necrophilia, directed the Karnataka government to ensure that CCTV cameras are installed in mortuaries of all government and private hospitals in the state to prevent “offences against dead bodies of women”, reported India Today.
“It is brought to our notice that in most of the government and private hospitals where the dead bodies, especially of young women, are kept in the mortuary, the attendant who is appointed to guard them has sexual intercourse with the dead body,” a division bench of the high court said.
The court said it’s high time to ensure that such crimes should not happen, and gave the Karnataka government six months’ time to ensure that the directions are followed.
“Unfortunately in India, there is no specific law against necrophilia,” the division bench of Justice B Veerappa and Justice Venkatesh Naik stated, and called upon the Centre to formulate a law criminalising necrophilia in India.
The high court has issued following directions to the state government:
* State government to ensure installation of CCTV cameras in mortuaries of all government and private hospitals in order to prevent any offence against the dead body of a woman, within 6 months from the date of the order
* Government to ensure mortuary hygiene is maintained through regular mopping and cleaning of the mortuary so that the bodies are preserved in a proper, clean environment
* Every government and private hospital to maintain confidentiality of clinical records and must have a mechanism for guarding information related to the deceased, especially for cases that are stigmatized and socially criticized, such as that of HIV and suicidal cases
* Post-mortem room should not come within the direct line of sight of the general public or visitors
* Staff in government and private hospitals must be sensitised about how to handle the dead body and how to deal with the attendants of the deceased with sensitivity.
