In India, the High Court in the state of Kerala has held that the wishes of the deceased to have her body donated to a medical college for educational purposes takes precedence over the desire of some of her children to have her body released for last rites and burial according to their religious customs. In Greeny Tomy v. State of Kerala, (Kerala High Ct., May 21, 2026), the appeals court explained that previous dissention among the five children regarding their father's funeral had led their mother to direct in writing that upon her death her body be donated for anatomical purposes. Acting on this direction, the hospital turned the body over to the mortuary to be donated to the medical school. Three of the children petitioned the court instead for release of the body for last rites and burial. A single judge court ruled in part:
Mere desire on the part of the petitioners, who are also the children of the deceased, cannot overcome the explicit expression of intention of the deceased to handover her body after her death to Medical College.
It is contended by the appellants that in so far as the appellants, who are the legal heirs of the deceased, have not consented to handover the body for anatomical uses, they have a right to claim that the deceased should have a burial in accordance with their religious rites.
The right claimed by the appellants is a reflection of two competing rights – the right to posthumous bodily integrity of the deceased and the right of the family to get a closure of the loss of their near and dear ones....
The right of a living person to decide on the fate of her body remains a part of her posthumous bodily integrity....
LiveLaw reports on the decision.
