HC stays cremation of Ashutosh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 15

Just about two days before the expiry of deadline for cremating frozen self-styled “godman” Ashutosh, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today stayed the operation of the directions till further orders.

Taking up three appeals filed against the December 1 order directing Ashutosh’s cremation, a Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Shiavax Jal Vazifdar and Justice Augustine George Masih also fixed February 9 as the next date of hearing in the matter. The order comes as a major relief to Ashutosh’s Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan (DJJS), as it is still insisting that the “godman” is not clinically dead and will rise from his ‘samadhi’.

As the appeals came up for hearing this afternoon, the Bench observed that all three parties, the State of Punjab, Ashutosh’s “son” Dalip Kumar Jha and DJJS were aggrieved by the impugned orders, hence the stay till further orders.

Punjab Additional Advocate-General Rita Kohli told the court that the single judge, vide the impugned order, dismissed the pleas of Ashutosh’s “son” and driver on the ground that they lacked locus standi, or the right to be heard. Yet, the judge widened the scope of the matter and went ahead to issue directions to the state to constitute a committee for Ashutosh’s cremation, though none of the parties had prayed for the same.

Challenging the order, Jha’s counsel SP Soi contended that his application for DNA test for establishing parenthood too was dismissed by the judge, though the same was permissible under law in view of the judgment in ND Tiwari’s case. Senior advocate Satya Pal Jain also challenged the orders on behalf of the DJJS.  

The single judge, in his December 1 verdict, had directed that the body be cremated within 15 days of receiving the order’s copy by a committee, including the Jalandhar District Magistrate and SSP.