A bench of Justices B Veerappa and Venkatesh Naik also said that it would not come within the scope of unnatural offences under Section 377 of IPC.
“A careful reading of Sections 375 and 377 of IPC makes it clear that a dead body cannot be called a human or person. Therefore, the provisions of Section 375 or 377 would not be attracted,” the Court said.
It therefore, said that it is high time the Central government makes changes to IPC to make necrophilia an offence.
Thus, the Court urged the government to either amend Section 377 of IPC or introduce a separate penal provision to criminalise necrophilia.
“The Central Government is hereby recommended to amend the provisions of the IPC as stated supra in order to protect the dignity of the body of the deceased in order to ensure to protect persons right of life includes right of his dead body as contemplated under Article 21 of the Constitution of India within a period of 6 (six) months from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order,” the Court ordered.
