The driver of a hearse who
accidentally dropped a dead body of a man in Kandy town while
transporting the body to a funeral house is to be charged for causing
disrespect to the body, a senior police office said.
The
hearse belonging to the Nuwara Mal Salawa in Kandy was driving past the
Kandy clock tower when the body had fallen off and a few meters away the
coffin had also fallen off on the road, police quoted eyewitnesses as
saying.
The hearse had proceeded without the body while the
police had to call for another hearse and transported the body back to
the undertaker.
A spokesman for the undertaker said the rear
door had opened after its lock had snapped and the body had slipped
off, however he was not sure how the coffin had opened up as it has a
separate lock. "It is probably that they had failed to lock the coffin",
he added.
"The driver also had his assistant, but had not
realised that the body had fallen off until they reached the home in
Katugastota", he said.
Police said they arrested the driver and had later been given bail.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (Legal) Gamini Dissanayake said
‘Under existing laws there is provision to charge such person for
causing disrespect to a dead person'.
