Dignity In Death, Denied By Law: Confronting The Necrophilia Loophole In India
- IJLLR Journal
- Apr 13
- 1 min read
Prateek Sunil Sharma, BA LLB, KES’ Shri Jayantilal H Patel Law College
I. ABSTRACT
Necrophilia, the deviant sexual attraction to corpses, exists in the most extreme forms of legislative grey area, ethical violation, and sociological delusion. The horrors of such an existence, let alone its socio-psychological impact on the victim and society at large, should render a call for criminal action. Yet the Indian legal system does not acknowledge this crime as a legally definable action that merits punishment. Historically and culturally, world traditions, as well as the philosophical idea of post-death dignity perpetuate the idea that the body is sacred even when life has departed. However, in India, the dead body has an identity crisis as it is neither a person nor property. As a result, in the absence of specific penal provisions or legislative intent, enforcement authorities sometimes resort to prosecuting adjacent or lesser offenses to seek justice, often inconsistently and selectively. Yet comparative international jurisprudence, from the United Kingdom to Canada, from Germany to the United States delineates themes of dignity that does not die with life and that attempts to desecrate the body once the spirit departs deserve a remedy and punishment for the same. Therefore, through reliance on established judicial precedent, India must determine what signifies a crime where no expressly worded legislative intent exists. This is not merely an aspirational guarantee, should dignity in death fail legally, our Constitution becomes mute upon death.
