By Funmilayo Olagunju

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The Law protects the remains of a human from humiliation notwithstanding its lack of breath. Though a corpse cannot feel shame, causing indignity to a corpse might provoke great humiliation to its living relatives. Certain legal protection of dignity accorded to a living human being is still accorded to a lifeless human body.

When a person undertakes, agrees or promises to take up a role in respect to the burial or other disposition (such as cremation or donation of corpse for medical research) of a dying human, the performance of such duty becomes mandatory. When a person through a death bed wish or a Will states preference about the disposition of his/her corpse, such preference must be followed as much as it conforms to the extant Laws. Failure to carry out that duty without any lawful justification by a person who undertakes to do so is a misconduct.

The duty to perform the burial or other disposition of a corpse might also be conferred upon a person by Law. A corpse is entitled to decent burial or other lawful disposition and shall not be left like a refuse. When an unidentified corpse is discovered on the road or in any open place, the  Law enforcement agents have a duty to pack it up, preserve it for a reasonable time and decently dispose it in compliance with the extant and applicable Laws.

Offering indignity to human corpse, whether it has been buried or not is not just a sacrilege, it is a punishable offence.

The act of having carnal knowledge of a corpse (Necrophilia) is illegal and punishable. The act of malicious mutilation of a corpse (without lawful justification such as consent during its lifetime) is an act of illegal interference.

The human remains or any part is not meant for consumption by human being. Any tradition that requires the consumption of human remain is illegal and punishable with Two years imprisonment.

Section 242 of the Criminal Code Act provides:

“Any person who:

(1) without lawful justification or excuse, the proof of which lies on him

(a) neglects to perform any duty imposed upon him by law, or undertaken by him, whether for reward or otherwise, touching the burial or other disposition of a human body or human remains; or

(b) improperly or indecently interferes with, or offers any indignity to, any dead human body or human remains, whether buried or not;

(2) eats or receive for the purpose of eating any part of a dead human body, is guilty of a misdemeanor and is liable to imprisonment for two years”

Apart from a social duty to dignify human remains, leaving human corpse like a refuse is a health threat to the society. It may cause emotional trauma to some onlookers, create offensive smell and aid spread of diseases.

“Then the king ordered that they bury the bones in the tomb of Kish, Saul’s father, at the town of Zela in the land of Benjamin. After that, God ended the famine in the land”

II Samuel 21:14 (NLT).