One of the responsibilities of a government towards its citizens is to ensure their physical security from domestic or external threats and protect and promote their human rights, including socio-economic and cultural rights. The Sri Lankan government is still far from convinced that the burial of the those who die of COVID-19 will not cause any harm to those who are not dead yet and continuing with the policy of forced cremation though there is no scientific basis for its fears. Citing international practice, the World Health Organisation advisory and scientific proof, Sri Lanka’s Muslims plead that they be allowed to bury those who die of COVID-19, and that they should not be denied their fundamental right to accord a decent burial to their loved ones. But in the government, an influential section is holding on to an unsubstantiated claim that if the burial of COVID-19 victims is allowed the virus could seep through the water table and reemerge in society.