Simon's widow, Anandhi Simon, had requested the Chennai Corporation on April 25, 2020 to exhume his body from a burial ground in Velliangadu and to bury it at the Kilpauk cemetery as per his last wish.
However, her plea was rejected by the corporation which had said that a committee of public health experts which it had constituted had advised it to not permit reburial of the body to minimise risk to the public. Anandhi then approached the court,
It may be recalled that a single bench of Justice Abdul Quddhose had on March 31 ordered to exhume the body of Simon Hercules following a petition filed by his widow, Anandhi Simon.
Justice Quddhose had made it clear in the order that the dignity of the deceased should be maintained throughout the process.
The order stated, "The Covid-19 guidelines issued by the Central government and the WHO had made it clear that the infection would not be contracted from a dead body."