Body of 25-year-old that had been sent back by immigration officials, repatriated

DEHRADUN: The body of 25-year-old Kamesh Bhatt, which had been sent back by immigration officials in Delhi on Friday citing a ministry of home affairs (MHA) order that prohibited receiving of any such cargo from outside India during the lockdown, was in the process of being repatriated from Abu Dhabi, family members of the deceased said on Sunday. Bhatt, who hailed from Tehri Garhwal, was working at a hotel in Abu Dhabi, and had passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest on March 17.
After struggling for several days to get his body repatriated amidst the ongoing lockdown, his family members had finally managed to arrange to have the body sent back on April 24 with the help of an Indian-origin social activist Roshan Raturi who arranged for all the requisite clearances. However, the body was returned by immigration officials. Soon after the incident of the body being sent back to UAE came to light, the MHA had issued an office memorandum on Saturday clarifying that bringing back mortal remains to the country was permissible as long as all guidelines were being followed. A detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for immigration officials was also issued in this regard.
Speaking to TOI, Bhatt’s cousin Vimlesh who had also approached the Delhi high court regarding the matter, said, “We have been told that the body would arrive at the cargo terminal of IGI Airport in Delhi on Sunday midnight.” He added that an ambulance had been provided by the Uttarakhand government for him and another family member to travel from Dehradun to Delhi to bring back the body.
Speaking on the issue, Uttarakhand protocol minister Dhan Singh Rawat said that the state government had taken up the matter with the ministry of external affairs and MHA in order to speed up the process of repatriating the body after which all the formalities regarding the repatriation were done.