About 40,000 unidentified bodies are disposed of every year removing every trace of their once earthly existence. During the same period thousands go missing from across the country. Is there a link between the unidentified bodies and the missing persons?
A PIL raised this important question and suggested keeping a DNA profile of the bodies before their disposal could help breaking the news of the death to those families waiting the homecoming of their near and dear ones who have gone missing.
The Supreme Court entertained this PIL by NGO Lokniti Foundation and issued notice to ministry of home affairs, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and secretary, department of scientific & industrial research seeking their response to the petition.
Petitioner's counsel Ashok Dhamija said the unidentified bodies could be because of a serious crime and "since the bodies cannot be identified using traditional methods, the perpetrators of the possible crime remain untraced and the families, to which the victims belonged, never come to know about the fate of their near and dear ones."
"DNA profiling of unidentified bodies can help match the missing persons. In addition, the DNA profiling of missing persons could help trace them and reunite several who had either been missing or kidnapped as children and forced into prostitution, bonded labour or even those who have turned mentally unstable," Dhamija said.
The petitioner said that though the government had been considering a proposal for DNA profiling of unidentified bodies since 2007, no decision had been taken yet. As per the data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau, number of unidentified bodies recovered and inquest conducted were 37,282 in 2007, 37,668 (2008), 34,902 (2009), 33,857 (2010) and 37,193 (2011).
In 2011, highest number of unidentified bodies was recovered in Maharashtra (6,313), followed by Tamil Nadu (4,479), Uttar Pradesh (4,084), West Bengal (3,704), Delhi (2,748), Andhra Pradesh (2,639), Karnataka (2,440), Gujarat (2,099), Madhya Pradesh (1,191), Rajasthan (1,170), Haryana (1,159) and Punjab (1,004).
The petitioner said, "One of the main reasons for large number of bodies remaining unidentified is that person freely moves from one part to another in search of work and members of poor families have no means to keep in touch with their near and dear ones. It becomes difficult for the local police to identify persons who have no local connection and who have died without any one complaining of death caused by any mischief."
It said a total of 11,846, 13,586 and 13,268 people went missing in Delhi alone in 2006, 2007 and 2008, respectively. From Andhra Pradesh a total of 47,936 went missing during 2009-12 and in Gujarat another 37,395 were reported missing during 2007-11.
So is there not a link between the missing persons and unidentified bodies which could be unraveled through DNA profiling of the dead yet unidentified? asked the petitioner.
Sunday 2 December 2012
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/PIL-seeks-DNA-profile-of-unidentfied-bodies/articleshow/17446665.cms
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