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| Devout Hindu loses cremation bid | Devout Hindu loses cremation bid |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| The High Court has turned down a bid by a devout Hindu for the legal right to be cremated on a traditional open-air funeral pyre. | The High Court has turned down a bid by a devout Hindu for the legal right to be cremated on a traditional open-air funeral pyre. |
| Davender Ghai, 70, was seeking to overturn a decision by Newcastle City Council preventing funeral pyres from being held. | Davender Ghai, 70, was seeking to overturn a decision by Newcastle City Council preventing funeral pyres from being held. |
| The council has said the traditional religious practice was impractical. | The council has said the traditional religious practice was impractical. |
| On Friday, Mr Justice Cranston ruled that pyres were prohibited by law, and the prohibition was "justified". | On Friday, Mr Justice Cranston ruled that pyres were prohibited by law, and the prohibition was "justified". |
| Mr Ghai, from Gosforth, Newcastle, is the founder of the Anglo-Asian Friendship Society (AAFS) and in February 2006 was refused a permit for an open-air cremation site in a remote part of Northumberland. | |
| His lawyers had argued a ban was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. | His lawyers had argued a ban was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. |
| The spiritual healer had earlier told a judge that a pyre was essential to "a good death" and the release of his spirit into the afterlife. | |
| He said he wanted to die "with dignity" and not be "bundled in a box". | |
| In refusing his application, Newcastle City Council said the burning of human remains anywhere outside a crematorium was prohibited under the 1902 Cremation Act - a ruling the Ministry of Justice agreed was correct. |