The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the Centre’s response to a plea filed by Anita Bose Pfaff, daughter of freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, seeking directions for the repatriation of her father's ashes from Tokyo’s Renko-ji Temple to India. The petition seeks the government’s intervention in bringing back the remains that have been preserved at the Japanese temple for more than eight decades.
A bench headed by the Chief Justice of India has issued notices to the Centre, including the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), seeking their response to the plea.
During the hearing, senior advocate AM Singhvi submitted that the matter was significant as Netaji’s own daughter had approached the court seeking the return of his remains. Justice Joymalya Bagchi said the Centre should first be given an opportunity to respond. The CJI thereafter directed that notices be issued to the concerned authorities.
The issue had also come before the Supreme Court in March 2026, when the court declined to entertain a PIL filed by Ashish Ray, the son of Netaji’s nephew. At the time, the CJI-led bench observed that Anita Bose Pfaff should herself approach the court and file a petition in her own name, as she is Netaji’s legal heir.
Following the court’s observation, Anita Bose Pfaff has now filed her own petition seeking directions for the repatriation of the ashes kept at Renko-ji Temple in Tokyo.
The question of Netaji’s remains has remained unresolved for decades, with continuing debate over the circumstances of his reported death in a plane crash in 1945 and the identity of the ashes preserved at the Japanese temple. The latest petition has once again brought the long-standing issue before the Supreme Court, with the Centre’s response now awaited.
The development comes after years of demands from members of the Bose family for the remains believed to be those of Netaji to be brought back to India. Pfaff has consistently maintained that the ashes kept at Renko-ji are her father’s mortal remains and has called for their return to India so that final rites can be performed with dignity.
The Netaji mystery
The issue has remained closely linked to the long-running controversy surrounding Netaji's disappearance. Subhash Chandra Bose is believed by the Indian government to have died from injuries sustained in an aircraft crash in Taipei, Taiwan on August 18, 1945.
According to accounts of the incident, Bose was taken to a hospital after the crash and died later that day. His remains were subsequently cremated, and the ashes were taken to Japan, where they were eventually placed at Renko-ji Temple in Tokyo.
However, the circumstances surrounding Bose’s death have remained a subject of debate for decades. Different inquiries were conducted over the years, including the Shah Nawaz Committee, the Justice GD Khosla Commission and the Justice Mukherjee Commission.
While the first two inquiries concluded that Bose died following the 1945 plane crash, the Mukherjee Commission, which submitted its report in 2005, rejected the plane-crash theory.
The government, however, did not accept the Mukherjee Commission's conclusions. The Ministry of Home Affairs has subsequently stated that, after considering the findings of the various inquiries, the government concluded that Bose died in the plane crash on August 18, 1945.
The question of whether the ashes preserved at Renko-ji are conclusively those of Netaji has also remained contentious.
Pfaff herself has supported the possibility of scientific testing, saying in the past that a DNA test could help address doubts surrounding the remains, although she has also acknowledged questions about whether usable DNA could be extracted from the material. Members of the Bose family had previously approached the government seeking a DNA test of the ashes.
Also Read:
Chandra Kumar Bose, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's grandnephew, quits TMC 'due to personal reasons'
