Mumbai Government Railway Police failed to identify 1,111 bodies in 2012

The Mumbai Government Railway Police (GRP) failed to identify 1,111 unclaimed bodies out of 3,541 found on railway premises in 2012. The bodies included those of beggars and drug addicts. This means a little less than one third remained unidentified and were later disposed of.

According to the GRP, Kalyan (157), Kurla (143), Thane (103) and Vasai (103) reported the highest number of unclaimed bodies.

Every year, thousands migrate to Mumbai, with many of them settling near religious places or on railway premises. They more often than not face starvation and suffer from malnutrition or some other illnesses.

“When we come across the body of an unidentified person on railway premises, we take a photo of the deceased and, along with his/her detailed description, circulate it to all police stations across the state, control rooms of other states, and also broadcast it via Doordarshan and publish it in newspapers to trace the person’s relatives. While we wait for a claimant to turn up, the body is kept in the morgue of a government or civil hospital for eight days,” said a railway police officer. If it remains unclaimed for long, the railway police dispose of it, he added.

Saying it was a challenge to trace the relatives of a beggar or drug addict, deputy commissioner of police, railway, GS Bhandare said, “Thanks to the GRP’s efforts, the number of unclaimed bodies has dropped from 1,392 in 2008 to 1,111 in 2012.”

He added that the Mumbai GRP commissioner Prabhat Kumar launched the website http:// shodh.gov.in in June 2012 to trace the identity of accident victims found on tracks. People can search for missing people by giving their physical description on the website.

Railway activist Sameer Zaveri, who filed a PIL in the Bombay high court in 2008 in this regard, said, “As per the HC’s direction, the Western and Central railways in January 2011 started a website to post details of the accidents where the public are given all details of the victim.”

Saturday 9 February 2013

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_last-year-grp-failed-to-identify-1111-bodies_1797204