What is Necrophilia and some well known cases of Necrophilia from India

In Asiaville's new Podcast Death and a Dysfunctional Family, we talk about Partha De of the Robinson Street "Horror House" case, who, in 2015, had spent more than 7 months with the skeletons of his sister Debjani De and the skeletal remains of their two dogs. Though Partha was eventually charged with IPC Sections 268 (public nuisance), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infectious disease) and 176 (omission to give notice or information to public servant by person legally bound to give it), the media reports and a sections of experts kept accusing Partha De of having necrophiliac tendencies based on dubious diary entries. 

For more details on the case and how the media sensationalised incoherent diaries entires of a man suffering from Paranoid Schizophrenia and Psychosis, check the podcast out. 

But for now let's undertsand what Necrophilia really is and what it means legally and psychologically.

Necrophilia in Legal and Psychological terms 

Necrophilia is a psychological disorder denotes the sexual desire, attraction, stimulation or sexual act of a person towards a corpse. The term necrophilia was introduced by a Belgium physician Joseph Guislain. According to psychiatrist Dr Jaydip Sarkar, Necrophilia can be of various types. Necro means 'dead' and philia means 'love' in Greek. Necrophilia can be of a romantic nature (not able to let go of a deceased loved one) and not always sexual (sex with body) or sadistic....A romantic necrophiliac refers to people who don't believe a loved one is dead. In such cases, they tend to mummify the body and keep it and speak to it as though it were still alive.

Other researchers have grouped necrophilia into ten classifications ranging from 'role players' to  homicidal necrophiles, who will kill and make sure that their victim is dead, before raping the body.

The World Health Orgnaisation (WHO) classifies Necrophilia under Paraphilia (sexual arousal to atypical objects, situations, fantasies, behaviors, or individuals).

Though considered rare, in 1958 Klaf and Brown had commented that necrophiliac fantasies may occur more often than is generally supposed. Despite its knowledge, the word 'necrophilia' finds little to no recognition in the book of laws of most countries. While some countries do not recognise necrophilia as an offence, India penalizes it under ‘trespass to burial grounds’. South Africa and the United Kingdom are the only two countries that have incorporated punishment specifically for necrophilia.

Brazil has a law that makes it illegal to abuse a corpse which is similar to the law persisting in Sweden, New Zealand makes it illegal to engage in “misconduct with human remains”. In the USA, there is no federal law that penalizes the same, but each state has their legislation – in Washington necrophilia is a Felony, Nevada also penalizes the offence under a felony. However, in Texas, it is only a misdemeanour. There are no laws governing sex with a corpse in New Mexico, Nebraska, Vermont, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and North Carolina. 

Necrophilia in India       

Section 297 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC), makes a vague attempt at incorporating the defiling of a dead body within its statutory confinements.But there are a numerous limitations with the said provision. Firstly, only those persons can be treated as liable for acts prohibited under Sub-section (1) who have trespassed into the burial grounds. A morgue keeper, an employee in the morgue, guards of the morgue or guards of the burial grounds and keeper of the burial grounds or any other person who is present at either place under their official capacity cannot be held liable even if they are caught indulged in any of the acts prohibited under Sub-section (1) since they have not trespassed into either of the places. The provision falls flat at the very first requirement. Secondly, the punishment attached is imprisonment up to a year or fine or both. 

There exists no penal provision in India which criminalizes the “particular act of necrophilia” if no trespass has been committed. 

The most prominent case of necrophilia in India was the Nithari case of 2006 where serial killers Surendra Koli and Mohinder Singh Pandher were booked after it was discovered that 19 girls were missing. It was later found that the duo used to murder the girls and thereafter had sexual intercourse with the body.

As evidence, several pornographic CDs and pictures of naked children and women were recovered by the police officials from their house. Subsequently, a case was registered against Kohli under various sections of the IPC, including rape, murder, kidnapping and criminal conspiracy. However, the CBI had a tough time charging Pandher and Kohli with necrophilia, as there were no well-defined laws in the country dealing with the crime. Fourteen years later, we're no better.

In a case as recent as May 2020, a 50-year-old man in Assam was arrested by the police for his alleged sexual intercourse with the body of a 14-year-old girl. The incident was reported from a village in Dhemaji district bordering Arunachal Pradesh. The accused, Akan Saikia, has two wives and he is a daily wager. He was charged under Indian Penal Code Sections 306 (abetment of suicide) and 377 (unnatural offences) and POCSO Act’s Section 8 (punishment for sexual assault).

In July, a 30-year-old shopkeeper murdered a 32-year-old woman customer and later had sexual intercourse with her in Maharashtra's Palghar. 

In June 2019 in another shocking tale from West Bengal, Kamruzzaman Sarkar, a 42-year old man, was arrested by the Police for murdering at least seven women and having sex with their corpses, besides injuring several others over the past five months in and around East Burdwan and the neighbouring Hooghly district. He was booked under IPC Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 376 (rape), and is now in 12-day police custody.

In 2018, a 20-year old labourer in Gurugram confessed that he had raped the corpses of many of his victims just to satisfy his hunger for sex and make the most of his kill.  

These are just some of the incidents. India has been witnessing a rising number of cases of necrophilia over the past decade, and yet does not have any laws that deal specifically with the crime.

However there is argument for the lack of direct laws as well. In a report for The Conversation, John Tyror wrote:

"Dead bodies aren’t people. They are most certainly human, but once any of us dies we become quasi-subjects before the law. A dead body’s legal status often makes necrophilia all the more impossible to fathom when we think about it in relation to the sacredness that many families will view a corpse as holding – the person may be dead, but they remain a loved one. In the eyes of the law in many necrophilia cases, a dead body becomes a kind of “property” for the next-of-kin, which is a concept that many people find doubly disturbing. Because necrophilia, in this sense, becomes an act of vandalism, not a sexual attack against a person."