The Management of Death in Sri Lanka and Potential Solutions for the Future

Abstract

Death is an inevitable human occurrence, and ancient humans experienced anxiety and apprehension when faced with unnatural deaths. Prehistoric humans valued funeral proceedings and ceremonial rites due to their belief in life after death and reincarnation. Dead bodies can be disposed of legally or illegally. Legal methods include soil burials, entombment, cremation, or donation to medical institutions. Legal disposal requires certification by a medical practitioner and a death certificate. Illegal disposal involves secret burials, such as being thrown into waterways or burnt. Ancient societies used customs like burying corpses in uninhabited jungles or constructing “Towers of Silence” to prevent scavenging by animals. Sea burials are also practiced in some cases. To register a death, authorized individuals confirm its occurrence, transfer the body to undertakers for final disposition, and relatives register it with the registrar of birth, marriage, and death. Various death investigation methods have been implemented in different parts of the world, generally varying based on the investigating authority’s jurisdiction.The death investigation system of Sri Lanka is based partly on the English coroner’s system. The death investigation procedure in Sri Lanka is described in Sections 369 to 373 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP) of Sri Lanka 1980. However, the current inquest system has several deficiencies. It is high time to adopt a system. Sri Lanka should contemplate transitioning from the inquest system to the medical examiner system, as the medical examiner system is more efficient, and several countries followed this successfully.