Court seeks report on condition of govt-run mortuaries

NEW DELHI: Shocked over a recent news report highlighting an incident where officials of Delhi’s Sabji Mandi mortuary abandoned over 25 unclaimed bodies outside its premises, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday called for a detailed report on the status of all government-run mortuaries here.

A bench of Justice BD Ahmed and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva directed the Delhi government and municipal corporations to submit report on facilities available in each hospital, under their jurisdiction, and the manner in which dead bodies are handled.

The court’s order came after advocate Saqib, amicus curiae in the case, informed it that two hospitals - Aruna Asaf Ali and Lok Nayak Hospital - he inspected were not following the 29-point Centre’s guidelines on maintenance of mortuaries. The Sabji Mandi mortuary is part of and associated to Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital.

“Conditions at the two mortuaries were totally unsatisfactory… The bodies brought over by the police were lying in a gunny bag without any cotton cloth covering them,” Saqib told the court.

Noting that the status needed to be “rectified immediately”, the bench asked Saqib to visit private hospitals here for a comparative analysis of mortuaries there and those in government and municipal hospitals and to file a report before the next date of hearing.