Hindu Wins Northumberland Funeral Pyre Battle

February 10, 2010

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tyne/8507811.stm

A devout Hindu has won his bid for the right to be cremated on a traditional funeral pyre.

Davender Ghai, 71, was seeking to overturn a 2006 Newcastle City Council decision forbidding him from being cremated according to his beliefs.

Last year his challenge was dismissed by the High Court, but that ruling has been overturned at the Court of Appeal.

Judges decided the pyre would be lawful after Mr Ghai said it could include walls and a roof with an opening.

In February 2006, the founder of the Anglo-Asian Friendship Society (AAFS), from Gosforth, Newcastle, was refused a permit for a cremation site in a remote part of Northumberland.