Mortuaries have been the least regulated part of hospital infrastructure in India, with no national benchmark for temperature, capacity, layout or record-keeping. The consequences reach well beyond dignity of the dead. A body in a medico-legal case is evidence, and a facility that cannot hold it at a controlled temperature, keep it separate from other remains, or tie it to a traceable serial number weakens both post-mortem findings and the chain of custody in a criminal trial. Fixing a minimum autopsy block size and mandating a segregated entry also addresses infection control and the routine indignity of moving bodies through corridors used by patients. Because public health is a State subject, the standards bind through the Clinical Establishments Act framework and are enforced by State and Union Territory authorities rather than by the Centre directly.