International standards dictate to preserve the bodies for 12 years
KATHMANDU, Oct 10: Since the 2015 earthquake, the police records have documented a total of 1,448 unclaimed bodies. Only a partial identity of some of them has been revealed. The police records show that in the partial details, some names are unclear and addresses are also indistinct.
The police have to suffer in managing these unidentified dead bodies. "In order to ensure the right to be identified and to perform the last rites by the relatives of the deceased, first we have to preserve the unidentified dead bodies," says Tek Bahadur Tamang, Additional Inspector General of Police (AIG) of the Police Headquarters, Criminal Investigation Department, "But there is no arrangement for freezing dead bodies outside the Kathmandu Valley. Even within the valley, the capacity is limited.”
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Generally, according to international standards, dead bodies should be preserved for up to 12 years.
According to the department, hospitals in the Kathmandu Valley can hold up to 300 bodies. According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Pradeep Singh, 250 dead bodies can be frozen in Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj and 50 in other hospitals. A small number can be accommodated outside the Kathmandu Valley, like in Biratnagar and Chitwan.
AIG Tamang says that due to the low number of mortuaries, there is a problem in keeping the dead bodies. He said, "Almost all refrigerators are full." When a new body arrives, the hospital relies on the police for managing the old bodies." According to the Unidentified and Unclaimed Bodies Management Guideline, 2021, the police should complete the process and perform the last rites. For this, the police should collaborate with a forensic doctor to cross-reference the deceased person's biometric fingerprints or other available records with the government's database. It includes comparison of fingerprints to dental records.
After completing these procedures, it is mentioned in the guidelines that last rites should be performed at the behest of the local people's representatives and organizations. There is also a provision to arrange the expenses for the funeral from the local level. But there is a problem when the local level does not agree. AIG Tamang says that the federal government should coordinate with the local level for this.
AIG Tamang says that it is also difficult to find the cause of death as the identity of the dead body is not revealed. If the body is found in a decomposed state, it will be difficult to find the cause of death. "If there is a death, there is a lack of clues to reach the criminals," he said.
When the body is not identified or the relatives are not in contact, the police investigation also becomes weak. But in case of suspicious death, the body should be kept for a long time for investigation. If there is a suspicious death, we have kept the dead body for 10/15 years. As a result, there is a possibility of investigation," said AIG Tamang, "Even in the case of the bodies that have been buried, it does not mean that the investigation is over," he added.
