Recently, shocking news have been reported from north to south corners of the country about the dumping of human bodies, affected with Covid-19, into the rivers. In the second wave of the pandemic, people are dying in large numbers in villages and people out of fear are not helping one another. In such a scenario, they are dumping their dead into the rivers.
Bodies were spotted by the villagers in the Ganga and Yamuna rivers in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the States where we perform thousands of rituals near rivers and we worship them for their sacredness. On May 11, several bodies wrapped in plastic bags were seen floating in Gazipur and Hamirpur districts of Uttar Pradesh. Similar cases were found in Bihar’s Buxar district. The biggest fear among locals is that these bodies can be eaten by stray dogs and birds which will further spread corona virus. Now, instead of taking action on people causing these malafide acts, the State authorities are playing blame game against each other.
Moving to the west, act of dumping bodies in Narmada river is reported in Gujarat and in Madhya Pradesh also. During the Spanish Flu in 1918, India witnessed similar scenes of bodies floating inthe river Narmada. That pandemic had killed around 13.88 million people in India.
In south, the garbage dumping activities in river have been a major issue reported in recent times.
These kinds of incidents are showing that the condition of health infrastructure in India has not been changed much since colonial era. Crematoriums and burial grounds are running out of space. Funeral pyres are being lit in car parking lots and along pavements. Charging high amount of fees by the ambulance drivers and shortage of beds in the hospitals are a common sight. Images of people scrambling for funerals and burials have flooded the world media. More than 250,000 people have died so far in the pandemic that began more than a year ago. Poverty is one reason for the bodies flowing in the Ganges because it costs a lot to burn bodies. Also, the civic nature of humans has been a major concern. For that a mass-scale awareness campaign is required to curb the menace.
The major specific legislation which provides for the prevention of water pollution and to take care and maintain the water bodies is the Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act, 1974. It also aims for promotion for restoration of water bodies. For better implementation of the Act, the Central Pollution Control Board and the State Pollution Control Board have been established by the Central and the State Governments. Under the Act, the board has the power to encourage and conduct research and investigation with a view of promoting, the prevention of contamination of water in a significant manner and also to advise the Central Government for the matters relating to environmental issues and for the prevention and control of water pollution.
The second major central legislation is the Indian Penal Code, 1860 where Section 277 lays down the provision to punish person who commits an offence of fouling of a public reservoir or a public spring voluntarily. He shall be liable to be punished with imprisonment of three months or with a fine of Rs 500 or with both.
Apart from this, under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, robust protection is accorded only to river stretches passing through national parks and sanctuaries. Some States though do have provisions in their revenue laws or rules to protect rivers, Sections 29 and 35(6) of the Wildlife Protection Act prohibit the destruction of wildlife, including aquatic habitat and vegetation, and the diversion of the flow of a water body into or outside such areas.
These prime legislations derive their power from the Constitution of India, 1950 where Article 21, 48 and 51 (g) are given a liberal interpretation by the judiciary to include the right to clean water and environment under its ambit. In the famous case of Narmada Bachao Andolan Vs. The Union of India, [2000] 10 S.C.C. 664, the Supreme Court, held that the right to clean water is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
Over the past few years, courts in India came out with several orders declaring rivers and lakes as entities granting them rights equivalent to a living person. In Salim v. State of Uttarakhand, (2017) SCC OnLine Utt 367 para 19, the High Court declared that “the Rivers Ganga and Yamuna, all their tributaries, streams, every natural water flowing with flow continuously or intermittently of these rivers, are declared as juristic/legal persons/living entities having the status of a legal person with all corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person in order to preserve and conserve river Ganga and Yamuna.”
Similarly, in Lalit Miglani vs State Of Uttarakhand, 2017 SCC OnLine Utt 392, the court stated that “Rivers and Lakes have intrinsic right not to be polluted. Polluting and damaging the rivers, lakes, water bodies, will be legally equivalent to harming, hurting and causing injury to person. They have a right to exist, persist, maintain, sustain and regenerate their own vital ecology system. The rivers are not just water bodies. These are scientifically and biologically living”.
These orders may not be able to immediately control the destruction or exploitation of rivers but they could transform the legislative approach to nature and reduce the current domination of developmental projects over the protection of nature,
So, on the legal front, despite numerous legislations at State and central level, civic bodies seem to be helpless to check dumping bodies into the river polluting the life existing under river, and existing laws seem to be inadequate.
Thus, it is much expected to take immediate action on the issue of dumping bodies and take appropriate legal measures for prohibiting the same. It is suggested that increased police patrolling activities will definitely help to ensure further bodies are not dumped in the river. Formation of a Judicial Committee is much needed to inquire about the collapsed health infrastructure system in the country.
(The writer is Assistant Professor, School of Law, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar. Views are personal)