The petitioner who currently works in the United Arab Emirates, claimed to have helped in repatriation of 4,700 bodies to 38 countries across the world. The Supreme Court Monday issued notice to the Centre on a plea by a UAE-based NRI, seeking direction to the Centre for arranging free transportation of mortal remains of Indian nationals who die abroad. A bench of justices A K Sikri and S Abdul Nazeer gave the centre six weeks time to reply to the plea by Ashraf Thamarassery, who contended that Air India transports bodies under “Sentimental Shipments” category but the procedure adopted by the national carrier is inhuman and degrading as it weighs the dead body and then levies charges on that basis. The petitioner who currently works in the United Arab Emirates, claimed to have helped in repatriation of 4,700 bodies to 38 countries across the world. The plea also sought direction that all Indian citizens, who are leaving the country for any reason, must mandatorily avail the Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojana scheme. It referred to a 2017 Parliamentary paper and said that 7,694 bodies of Indians were stranded in foreign countries in 2015. The petition prayed the court to issue directions “to stop the practice of weighing the dead body and then levying charges upon it” and also to direct the centre “through its Indian missions all over the world to arrange all the necessary documents for the process of repatriation of dead bodies expeditiously”.