Disposal of bodies of persons dying from infectious disease

(1) No person having the charge or control of the body of any person who has died while suffering from an infectious disease shall permit or suffer persons to come unnecessarily into contact with, or proximity to the body. (2) No person shall, without the sanction in writing of the Health Officer or of a person authorised by him in this behalf, retain in any premises (elsewhere than in a public mortuary) for more than twelve hours the body of any person who has died while suffering from an infectious disease. (3) (a) If any such body (not being a body kept in a mortuary) remains undisposed of for more than twelve hours without the sanction referred to in sub-section (2), or if the dead body of any person is retained in any building so as to endanger the health of the inmates of such building, or of any adjoining or neighbouring building, any Magistrate may, on the application of any Health Officer or of a person authorized by him in this behalf order the body to be removed and disposed of within a specified time. (b) A Magistrate may, in the case of the body of a person who has died while suffering from an infectious disease or in any other case in which he considers the immediate disposal of the dead body necessary, direct the body to be so disposed of, unless the friends or the relatives of the deceased undertake the disposal of the body within a time specified in the order.