A year since his death, uncertainty surrounds M.M. Lawrence’s body

A year after his death, veteran trade unionist M.M. Lawrence’s mortal remains lay in wait, embalmed and preserved, at the Anatomy department of Government Medical College, Ernakulam, following legal battles.

While a recent order from the court favoured the use of the body for medical purposes, hospital sources revealed that they cannot use the body when such confusion prevailed.

After one month of receiving the body, the medical college authorities embalmed it, lest the body would have decomposed. It was shifted to a formalin tank, hospital sources indicated.

The bodies that are donated to the medical college for medical research and education are kept in formaldehyde tanks after embalming. The bodies would be used for medical education if there are no legal issues attached to them.

“Cases like these are rare. Right now this is the only body which has been caught up in such confusion,” sources added.

The legal battle surrounding the mortal remains of Lawrence began after his daughter, Asha Lawrence, approached the court challenging her brother M.L. Sajeevan’s decision to hand the body over to the medical college for research and academic purposes.

Lawrence breathed his last on September 21, 2024. He was 95. T

In October, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court had dismissed a review petition filed by Ms. Lawrence and Sujatha Boban, her sister, seeking to review its earlier verdict dismissing their plea against handing over the body to the medical college.

The High Court and Supreme Court had dismissed their pleas seeking to hand the body over to them for burial as per Christian rites.

“My father was a fighter while he was alive. Now his body is also fighting, although I don’t believe that a dead person’s body will fight,” says Mr. Sajeevan.

“My Appachan (father) had expressed his desire to donate his body for medical studies when he was alive. This can be corroborated by several people. But currently we are going to let the court decide,” says Mr. Sajeevan.

Meanwhile, Ms. Lawrence said that she will consult her lawyer checking the possibilities to move forward with the case.