The Kerala High Court on Monday, September 23, ordered the state government to temporarily keep the mortal remains of veteran communist leader MM Lawrence at the Kalamassery Medical College. 

According to livelaw the Justice V G Arun directed the Principal of Government Medical College, Kalamaserry to consider the objections submitted by the petitioner before taking a decision. “After taking possession also the body will be preserved for some time, no further orders in the manner in which the body is to be kept after taking over is issued,” the court said.

MM Lawrence (95), one of the first generation leaders of the undivided Communist Party of India (CPI), died at a private hospital in Kochi on Saturday, September 21, morning. While his son Sajeevan and Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPIM] decided to donate the body to the hospital for medical research. Sajeevan is a member of the CPI[M]. 

However, this was objected to by Lawrence's daughter Asha Lawrence. Asha subsequently approached the High Court, challenging the decision to donate the body. She sought custody of the body, and wanted to bury it as per Christian rituals. 

Despite the court order, Asha refused to allow the body to be transported to the medical college. She was reportedly forcibly removed by the police. 

In a Facebook post Asha wrote that his father never had told her about his wish to donate the body. She alleged that her brother Sajeevan wants to donate the body to the hospital in a bid to “satisfy” the party., “His elder son is doing this to satisfy the party. My father married at the church, his children are married at the church, and our mother’s funeral occurred at church.” She alleged that this was a “deception” by the party. 

Speaking with the media, Sajeevan claimed that his father had expressed to him about his wish to donate the body for medical research purposes – a common practice among rationalists to promote science. “I shared his wish with the party and the party decided to donate the body. It was not a decision by the party. It is his decision, my decision. No other family members had any disagreement with this decision,” he said. 

Sajeevan alleged that Asha is deliberately creating a controversy under the influence of leaders belonging to the RSS. “Some people are clearly involved in this. It can't be considered as a good political move. It is an example of the filthy activities of some persons in Sangh Parivar,” Sajeevan told the media. 

Amid this ongoing issue, an old Facebook post of Lawrence talking about his daughter's connection to Sangh Parivar has emerged online. 

Lawrence was an activist of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and later the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). As a young trade unionist, he played a key role in organising port and factory workers in Kochi. A former convenor of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the state, Lawrence played a crucial role in events that shaped the communist movement in the state.

He was the party’s central committee member in 1998. From 1980 to 1984 he served as a member of Parliament (MP) from Idukki Lok Sabha constituency.