207 unclaimed bodies in 10 govt mortuaries
MUMBAI: On February 17, Parmeshwar Kotake allegedly killed his 30-year-old neighbour in Dahisar’s Shankarwadi. The Dahisar police cracked the case within a day — they found that Kokate, also 30, had allegedly murdered his friend over an unpaid loan of Rs 100. However, the police were not able to find anything about the victim. He slept outside a garage, and he had no identity documents.
“We could not confirm his identity or locate his relatives,” Somnath Gharge, deputy commissioner of police (DCP Zone 12), said. Three months on, the man’s body lies unclaimed in the mortuary in Bhagwati hospital. Although the cops found his name, they haven’t been able to locate any other information about the victim.
According to the police manual, all unclaimed bodies should be disposed of between seven to 30 days. However, there are at least 207 bodies lying unclaimed in the 10 mortuaries of civic and police surgeon-run hospitals across Mumbai, such as KEM, Sir JJ, St George hospitals among others since February 2021.
As per the procedure, the investigating officer of the case contacts police stations across the country to check if the description of the victim matches any missing complaint. He also publishes the victim’s photograph in a newspaper and sends the deceased’s fingerprints to the specific bureau in the Mumbai police commissionerate, in case they are able to find a match in their database. Besides this, the victim’s DNA is sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Kalina, where it is preserved for at least seven months.
“The body can be disposed only after all these procedures are completed,” Gharge said.
Officials said unclaimed bodies — usually victims of railway or road accidents and unnatural deaths — are identified rarely, as the procedure takes a lot of time. In some instances, only parts of the body are retrieved. This explains why there are so many unclaimed bodies are lying in the city morgues for the past year. This, inspite of the commissioner’s mandate from last year.
Last year, the then Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale held a meeting with top-ranking police officials, including all 12 deputy commissioners of police and all five additional commissioners of police. One of the issues that came up at the meeting was the disposal of unclaimed bodies. “The commissioner had asked all 94 police stations in Mumbai to treat unidentified and unclaimed bodies as accidental deaths and dispose of them as fast as possible,” DCP (Zone 1) Hari Balaji, acting spokesperson of the Mumbai police, said.
“At least 20% of the people who die on the railway tracks in Mumbai remain unidentified or unclaimed,” said Anil Kadam, senior police inspector of Borivli Government Railway Police.
In 2015 — the latest data available is from this year — Maharashtra ranked highest in the number of unidentified bodies found in the country with 6,185, says National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data. The country recorded 34,592 unidentified bodies. At least 6,185 unidentified bodies were found across the state. Tamil Nadu (3,739), Karnataka (3,533), Uttar Pradesh (3,409), West Bengal (3,086), Delhi UT (3,063), Gujarat (2,416) are the other states with the highest number of unclaimed bodies.
We perform their last rites according to their religion (if we can make it out based on tattoos or any other body identification) KISHORE BHATT, Bizman part of NGO Sadgati foundation
The procedure
Balaji said that after a case is registered by the relevant police station, the body is photographed, and sent to a civic hospital for post mortem.
If the person is still unidentified, the police asks the hospital to preserve the person’s DNA sample and send it to the Forensic laboratory in Kalina..
The police fill up a form number 4 that states that the body is unclaimed and since the person’s relatives have not been traced, the body should be disposed of.
However, it takes months or even over a year for an unclaimed body to be disposed as they keep piling up at the 10 civic run and police surgeon run mortuaries in Mumbai.
“A few years ago, the Kurar police recovered just a head of a corpse. For two years, they searched for more parts of the victim’s body. The police then contacted me to dispose of the head,” said 73-year-old Kishore Bhatt, a city-based businessman who arranges for funerals of unclaimed bodies through a non-government organisation, Sadgati foundation.
In some instances, officials are unable to identify the kin or relatives of the deceased. And in some cases, families refrain from claiming the body, police officials and social workers who help dispose bodies, said.
“In a city like Mumbai, there are many who come alone to make a living and hence it becomes very difficult for the police to trace their relatives after their death. There are many old beggars who are found dead on the roads, and there is no one to claim their bodies,” said Bhatt.