Source: Daily News & Analysis

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1088763

LONDON: A demand from British Hindus and Sikhs to be allowed to hold open-air funerals, which are banned in Britain, got a major impetus with a charity fighting for the cause being allowed to present its case in court.

Davender Ghai, president of the Anglo Asian Friendship Society, has been given permission to present his arguments in court by Newcastle High Court judge, Justice Andrew Collins.

The development follows a legal row last year over the open-air funeral held of a young Indian-born Sikh, Rajpal Mehat, organised by the charity at a secret location in Northumberland, north east of England.

Justice Collins has declared that the burning of bodies in the open “is not necessarily unlawful” and that the subject was “an issue of considerable importance.”