The Punjab and Haryana High Court would hear the Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan’s appeal on Thursday challenging the December 1 order regarding cremating the “frozen” godman Ashutosh Maharaj within 15 day’s time.Along with DJJS’s plea, an appeal filed by Bihar-resident Dalip Kumar Jha,who claims to be Ashutosh Maharaj’s son, against the same orders will also be placed before the bench.
Justice MMS Bedi, in his detailed order on December 1, had directed cremation of Ashutosh Maharaj’s body within 15 days of receiving the order’s copy by a five-member committee, comprising Jalandhar District Magistrate, Senior Superintendent of Police, Municipal Corporation Commissioner, Chief Medical Officer and the Sub-Divisional Magistrate concerned.
As the Committee received the orders on December 3, the High Court’s deadline would expire on December 17. Justice Bedi had also stated that godman “like any other living person was dead”; and also rejected his followers’ claim of having a religious right to retain the body for “uncertain period” as he was in Samadhi and was expected to return. The plea for autopsy too was dismissed, as it was “not a case of unnatural death”.
Challenging the orders, Dalip Jha, in his appeal, has maintained that his application for DNA test to establish paternity was “wrongly decided”, and the stamps, dating back to 1999, on the registered letters purportedly written by Ashutosh Maharaj to them proved that the mails were not forged.
Justice Bedi is already hearing an appeal by the DJJS for putting in abeyance the 15-day deadline.