Police have discovered the body of an 80-year-old man who died in 2022 and had reportedly been kept inside a freezer at a medical clinic in Mumbai's Malad for nearly four years. The unusual case came to light after police received information from an informant, prompting officers to visit the facility and investigate why the body had remained there for such an extended period.

According to police, the man's family had instructed the clinic to preserve his body after his death. The family reportedly told the clinic that they were deeply disturbed by his death and hoped to eventually move the body to a cryonics centre in the United States that provides long-term preservation services. The man's wife and adult children are based in Mumbai, but their identities, as well as the identity of the deceased, have not been disclosed.

Cryonics involves preserving human remains at extremely low temperatures after a person has been declared dead, with the hope that future advances in medical technology could potentially make revival possible. While cryopreservation of cells, tissues and embryos is an established scientific practice, cryonics involving the preservation of an entire human body remains experimental. In this case, the body was kept in a freezer at the clinic while the family pursued its reported plan.

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The family and clinic management did not inform the police while the body remained at the facility. Following the discovery, police have begun examining the circumstances surrounding the preservation and are seeking legal advice on the appropriate course of action. Authorities are also consulting experts about the legality of preserving a human body in such a manner and the length of time for which a body can be kept under these circumstances. A decision regarding the man's final rites has not yet been taken.

India currently does not have a specific law that expressly bans or permits cryonics. However, preserving a human body can involve constitutional, criminal and healthcare-related legal considerations. The Supreme Court has previously held that the right to life and dignity under Article 21 extends to the dead, requiring human remains to be treated with dignity and disposed of according to applicable customs. Some legal experts have suggested that this could potentially intersect with an individual's wishes regarding cryopreservation, although there is no formal legal recognition of such a right.

Indian courts have also dealt with cases involving the refrigeration of human remains, although such cases have involved different circumstances. In the case of spiritual leader Ashutosh Maharaj, who was declared clinically dead in 2014, the Punjab and Haryana High Court allowed his disciples to continue preserving his body in a commercial freezer while they maintained that he was in a state of deep meditation. The Mumbai case is now being examined separately, particularly because the body was reportedly kept privately for several years without authorities being informed. Police are also considering questions surrounding legal death, post-mortem procedures and the preservation of an entire body, which is different from the temporary storage of biological material for forensic or medical purposes.

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