Centre gets four weeks to reply on Netaji’s ashes
Anita B. Pfaff seeks return of remains from Tokyo’s Renkoji Temple to India
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday gave the Centre four weeks to respond to a plea by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s daughter Anita B. Pfaff seeking the return to India of remains kept at Tokyo’s Renkoji temple.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana granted the time after Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, sought four weeks to file a reply. The court had issued notice to the Centre on August 11.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Ms Pfaff, opposed an application by a person seeking to intervene in the case. The applicant disputed Ms Pfaff’s claim to be Bose’s daughter. Chief Justice Kant said the bench could not prevent the applicant from making submissions.
Mr Singhvi had earlier told the court that Ms Pfaff had “consistently and publicly sought repatriation of her father’s mortal remains to India for final rites with dignity and finality”.
Bose’s disappearance in August 1945 remains the subject of differing accounts. The identity of the remains kept at Renkoji temple has also been disputed.