Ruth Gledhill: why I'd back UK funeral pyres

The High Court will consider a legal challenge from a 70-year-old Hindu today that would allow him to have an open-air cremation when he dies.

The judicial review at the Royal Courts of Justice will hear a case brought by Davender Kumar Ghai, founder of the Anglo-Asian Friendship Society, who wants the law changed to allow traditional Hindu funeral pyres in Britain.

Newcastle City Council has refused him a permit him to be cremated in line with Hindu ritual, arguing that a pyre outside a crematorium is prohibited by the 1902 Cremation Act.

Although there have been Hindu cremations in the the past in Britain, in recent years the authorities have become stricter about enforcing the rules. There are more than 600,000 Hindus in Britain and many families pay thousands of pounds to fly the bodies of their loved ones to India for a traditional cremation.

Three years ago the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute after Mr Ghai organised a funeral pyre in Northumberland for Rajpal Mehat, 31, from India.

Hindus believe that cremation is essential to free the soul from the body after death. The dead person's oldest son is usually expected to light the fire. Monks and children, having no children of their own, are sometimes buried instead of cremated. The pyre must take place at a site on which the sun shines directly at noon and which is close to running water.

Mr Ghai's lawyer, Andrew Singh Bogan, said a successful challenge would create a precedent for all local authorities to grant open-air funeral pyres if there was demand in their area. His legal team will argue at a three-day hearing before Mr Justice Cranston that the law does not prohibit a religious cremation outside a crematorium.

Mr Ghai, whose health is declining, said: "I have lived my entire life by the Hindu scriptures. I now yearn to die by them and I do not believe that natural cremation grounds – as long as they were discreet, designated sites far from urban and residential areas – would offend public decency.

"My loyalty is to Britain's values of fairness, tolerance and freedom. If I cannot die as a true Hindu, it will mean those values have died too."

At an earlier hearing in 2007, Justice Andrew Collins said that the judicial review was of considerable importance and a full hearing in the High Court was in the public interest.

A spokesman for the British Ministry of Justice said: "There are inevitably competing views on the appropriate arrangements for disposing of bodies stemming from different views about religion, morals and decency.

"The current law requires that cremations must take place in a crematorium and open-air funeral pyres are not allowed. The Government considers that this requirement is justified, taking into account the complex social and political issues raised."

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