Chennai: The Madras high court dismissed a petition filed by Amrutha, who claimed she is the daughter of former chief minister Late J.Jayalalithaa, seeking permission for the family members of Jayalalithaa to cremate her body as per the rites, rituals, customs of Vaishnava Iyengar Brahmin community, to which Jayalalithaa belonged.
Dismissing the petition, Justice S.Vaidyanathan said, “From the huge hue and cry made by Amrutha and the silence of the class II legal heirs (Deepa Jayakumar and Deepak Jayakumar) of late J.Jayalalithaa, an inference can be drawn that they only try to grab the property of late Jayalalithaa and not for any other purpose, as Deepa Jayakumar has been dreaming of usurping the sensitive post”.
When the claim of Amrutha that she was the direct legal heir of Jayalalithaa remains not established by means of substantial evidence, the question of cremating the remains of Jayalalithaa as per rites, rituals and customs of Sri Vaishnava Iyengar Brahmin community does not arise, the judge added.
The judge said Amrutha has not produced any photograph to establish that she had stayed with Jayalalithaa. The averment of Amrutha that she made several phone calls to Jayalalithaa cannot be a good ground for this court to accept her contention. Though Amrutha has stated that Jayalalithaa was so clannish to her and she used to hug her, whenever she saw her, it would only be considered as spoken in the air, mere showing her delusive quality and this court cannot take the same into account for the purpose of granting relief, the judge added.
The judge said DNA test can be ordered to be conducted, only if there were strong grounds. In this case, no strong ground has been established by Amrutha, by producing appropriate documentary evidence.
He added though it has been contended by Amrutha that the blood samples of herself and Deepa Jayakumar have to be sent for DNA matching to ascertain her maternity, there was no iota of evidence. In the absence of substantial evidence to support her claim, this court cannot grant the relief sought by her. If the relief was granted, it will open the coffin of Jayalalithaa. .
