The shocking truth of how the dead are dealt with in Mumbai

On the morning of March 13 the airconditioning at Crawfort Markets GT Hospital morgue malfunctioned There were five male bodies inside As the humidity rose the human flesh began to rot and the stench spread People in nearby homes got uncomfortable and complained to the hospitalOn March 16 mdash more than 72 hours after the AC conked off mdash mechanics were called in They inspected the mortuary and detected a leakage in the units It would involve major repairs It would take time The GT Hospital authorities immediately informed civic officials that they would not be able to take any more dead bodies for the time being All cases were to be sent to the JJ HospitalAlso read Giving dignity to the dead One mans fight to bring changeRizwan 30 a helper to constable DP Ware readies to offload unclaimed bodies from the hearse at Bhoiwada cremation ground He earns R100 per body for the job PicsPradeep DhivarThe nearby Azad Maidan police station was also informedAt the police station it was time to call Mumbais Mr Wolf Like the character immortalised in Quentin Tarantinos seminal Pulp Fiction police constable DP Ware disposes of the dead Unlike Mr Wolf Ware doesnt get paid handsomely for his subhuman troubles He is among a handful of men in Mumbai who are tasked with disposing of the deadRizwan and Kaniya Solanki place a shroud over a corpse at Bhoiwada crematorium Of the 12 hearses once available for transport only three are functioning PicPradeep DhivarSoon after the call Ware and his two aides mdash Kaniya Solanki 38 and Rizwan 30 he goes by his first name mdash arrived at GT hospital on the police hearseOn paper Mumbai tops the national charts in disposing of unclaimed bodies In fact a highlevel team of officials from the Bureau of Police Research amp Development BPRampD were in the city recently to understand the methodologyThe visit was the result of the efforts of one man Activist Vikas Chandra from Patna had obtained nationwide information from countless RTIs and filed a PIL in the Supreme Court regarding how the country handles unknown dead bodies As per the information given to him under RTI Mumbai seemed to have the best record Hence the BPRampD teams visit to the commercial capital The contents of BPRampDs report are not known The case will come up for hearing before a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kriti Singh on April 1Rizwan and Kaniya SolankiResources lackingTill some time ago all 12 of Mumbais police zones had a hearse each to transport unclaimedunidentified bodies Today only three police hearse vans are available for the citys 94 police stations mdash one for the South and SouthCentral regions each with 16 and 20 police stations respectively and one each for the eastern and western suburbsBy the time Ware and Cos police hearse MH04AN487 arrived at GT Hospital on March 15 maggots had infested the five unclaimed bodies They were wrapped in old bedsheets and whatever bloodstained clothes were available at the morgueAs the van pulled out at 3 pm heading to its first destination five kilometres way the stench was so unbearable that pedestrians and motorists moved awayThe van reached the Bhoiwada crematorium in Parel at 330 pm armed with copies of the postmortem reports and letters from respective police stations authorising the disposal of the bodiesDP WareBy the time the threeman team was done at the Shivaji Park Sion and Reay Road crematoriums and finally reached the one at Worli with the last decomposed body it was 1140 pmIn Mumbai all unidentified unclaimed bodies are to be cremated one at a time only at electric civic crematoriums Another unwritten rule is that these bodies will be disposed of only after families cremating their dead are done and gone It takes two hours for a body to be burned completely Ware and Co have to wait till thenAs though the job itself is not difficult it comes with added caveats Chandanwadi crematorium in Marine Lines does not accept unclaimed bodies before 11 pm as it is a VVIP area Other electric crematoriums have a strange rule that they will accept only one unclaimed body in a day So Ware and Co have to go crematoriahunting till all Hindu bodies are disposed of Unlike the dead with claimants who are usually sent off with garlands and prayers no such rituals are followed for unclaimed bodiesBada Kabrastan in Marine Lines and Christian cemeteries ensure the bodies are buried as per tradition including a maulvi and a priest to say prayers Proper records are maintained of the body received Christian cemeteries accept such bodies only between 10 am and 5 pm and they must be notified in advance The process of identifying religion is purely by guesswork Circumcised males are categorised as Muslim If there is a tattoo of a cross somewhere on the body it is considered Christian Some Hindu women from the rural areas have their names tattooed on their hands Otherwise the police and mortuary workers look for indents left on forehead by regular application of sindoorbindi Once the body is cremated the original paper is kept with the postmortem centre where the autopsy was done and copies are submitted to the concerned police station and BMC No death certificate is issued by the BMC until the police trace the next of kin of the unidentified bodyMumbais Mr WolfThe man who drives the hearse is Constable DP Ware He was relegated to this job in 2006 when he was diagnosed with a life threatening diseaseA few months after a surgical procedure at a private nursing home in Dadar I developed loose motions and vomiting Subsequent blood tests showed I had got an infection during surgery said WareHe was sent to drive the police hearse since he could not perform the regular constables job which involves 12 hours of activity including strenuous bandobast and night shift His wife also tested positive and both have to go to JJ Hospital every week to get their medicines JJ disburses the crucial medicines under a government programme every Saturday In the early days when a superior officer learnt about Wares ailment he was not even allowed entry to his cabin It was hurtfulBut the worst part is if I miss a Saturday I am not given medicine for next one month and I cannot afford to buy the medicines I the market Some concession should be given to policemen on such duties said WareOn March 15 Ware bought a can of deo and emptied it inside the van By the time the van reached the first crematorium he was dizzyTwo policemen and nine helpers have died in the past Death in inevitable for the helpers as they have to lift all sorts of bodies without realising that the fluid oozing out of decomposed corpses can also be harmful especially if it comes in contact with an open injury on the helpers body said WareWares only silver lining is that his children have tested negativeI want to secure the future of my children They know that their parents are fighting a life threatening disease and also that I have to transport unclaimed dead bodies he said As a practice on reaching home I dump my clothes in washing machine and use soap and hand wash to clean myself Only then do I enter the house and have a meal or interact with my familyInhuman working conditionsKaniya and Rizwan have been with Ware for five and two years respectively They get paid Rs 100 for every body disposed With no safety gear facemask apron or shoes both expose themselves to risk of infection by handling highly decomposed bodies with just a pair of torn gloves We collect unclaimed bodies from St George GT JJ KEM Nair and Sion hospitals and dispose of them as per the religion of the deceased Rizwan told midday Hindu bodies are taken to electric crematoriums Muslims to Bada Kabrastan and Christians to the cemetry at Mahalakshmi We are illiterate and have no source of livelihood By lifting bodies we can at least feed ourselves for a day he saidKaniya added Agar hum ne nahin kiya toh koi aur nahin karega ye kaam Hum ise punya ka kaam samajhte hain If we do not do this nobody else will We consider this as a holy work We have lifted everything from foetuses from dustbins to old people on the road Initially we used to get disturbed but now we are used to itThe two sit behind Ware and are so accustomed to the stench that they have even learned to sleep next to decomposing bodies during long hauls On an average the trio disposes three to five dead bodies a day The money they get is barely enough for food and alcohol And alcohol they say is an essentialWhen we are done we shower in phenyl and soap We then have our lunch or dinner which is never on time said Kaniya He Rizwan has poor immunity falls sick often and complains of dysentery and vomiting We all have to die some day but the tag of unclaimed or unidentified is something that hurts When we are born we acquire an identity Then why is it that when we are dead we have noneWhere is the Rs 1500While on paper the state government vide its notification MIS0708PK 359POL8 dated May 21 2009 has sanctioned Rs 1500 for disposal of each body its either not reaching subinspector level officials or they are unaware of such a notificationmidday spoke to a few serving and retired police sub inspectors who acknowledged and confirmed that disposal of unclaimed unidentified body is the responsibility of the sub inspector who prepares the ADR Accidental Death Register and he is also the Investigating Officer After the mandatory seven days in the mortuary or after receiving intimation from the postmortem centre the PSI has to pay a minimum of R300 from his pocket Of this R100 is paid to each helper and Rs 100 goes towards the white shroud I have to pay from my pocket for disposal of bodies I have never heard of availability of a fund for disposing unclaimed unidentified body said a sub inspector who did not want to be identified900Year 2014767Year 2015No of unclaimed bodies that reached JJ Cooper and Bhagwati hospitalsHow its done in the United StatesThe National Institute of Justices National Missing and Unidentified Persons System NamUs wwwnamusgov is a national centralized repository and resource center for missing persons and unidentified decedent records NamUs is a free online system that can be searched by medical examiners coroners law enforcement officials and the general public from all over the country in hopes of resolving these cases The public may register to search and report information in the missing person database and may search but not add information about unidentified persons Law enforcement officers coroners and medical examiners and other professionals may register to search and report information to the missing person database and the unidentified persons database More than two thirds of the 10000 registered NamUs users are members of the general public the balance are death investigation professionals such as coroners medical examiners and law enforcement officers The missing persons database contains 7148 entries and the unidentified persons database has 7855 records for year 2011 revealed their press statementgt NamUs includes three databasesThe Missing Persons Database contains information about missing persons that can be entered by anyone however before it appears as a case on NamUs the information is verified NamUs provides a user with a variety of resources including the ability to print missing persons posters and receive free biometric collection and testing assistance Other resources include links to state clearinghouses medical examiner and coroner offices law enforcement agencies victim assistance groups and pertinent legislationThe Unidentified Persons Database contains information entered by medical examiners and coroners Unidentified persons are people who have died and whose bodies have not been identified Anyone can search this database using characteristics such as sex race distinct body features and even dental informationgt The Unclaimed Persons Database contains information about deceased persons who have been identified by name but for whom no next of kin or family member has been identified or located to claim the body for burial or other disposition Only medical examiners and coroners may enter cases in the unclaimed persons database However the database is searchable by the public using a missing persons name and year of birthHow other Indian states compare Goabull Only case of homicidal accidentalsuicidal death body should be referred for postmortembull No postmortem required in other casesbull Standing order no 396 is followed in case of disposal of unclaimed dead bodiesbull Dead bodies to be kept for 72 hours in mortuarybull Request for arrangement for cremation if sent to Municipal authoritiesbull Body of foreign national preserved for 30 days for informing concerned consulate Keralabull Municipal authority is the repository of existing rules for disposal of unclaimed dead bodiesbull Police have to complete formalities before handing over to the Municipal Authorities to arrange burial Maharashtrabull Unclaimed bodies are disposed of as per the provision laid under section 5 of the Bombay Anatomy Act of 1949 the coroner act got abolished in the year 1999 and now the power is given to the Assistant Commissioner of Policebull The police officer is responsible to ensure that the dead body is covered properly and not exposed to the public view if it is lying in a street or public placebull If police reports that no relatives were traced the police after 7 days are supposed to dispose the dead bodybull The postmortem report copy original is kept at the postmortemcenter copy sent to BMC and police station where Accidental Death registeredUnclaimed bodies for medical educationAccording to Police surgeon Dr S M Patil unknown and unidentified bodies are also given to 14 government run and 106 private including Ayurvedichomeopathy etc medical colleges in Maharashtra only if the Medical Education Department has issued Bombay Anatomy Act 1949 to the said college and after they obtain a NOC from Assistant Commissioner of Police who has the magisterial power for obtaining such body A charge of Rs 1500 per body is levied for embalming the corpse and transportation charges have to be taken care of by medical college On an average 450 unknown unidentified bodies are given to medical college not only in Maharashtra but also out of Maharashtra like Bijapur Pondycherry Karnatkaetc which followed Bombay Anatomy ActTamil Nadu allows unclaimed bodies to be kept for 30 days and disposal is done by hospital authorities Director of Medical Education supplies cadavers to private institutions for Rs 25000 per bodyWhy does Mumbai have so many unclaimed bodiesWhen asked the reason for so many unclaimed and unidentified dead bodies police surgeon Dr SM Patil said ldquoMetros like Mumbai Kolkata Chennai and Delhi witness massive migration of people for search of job and livelihood Also many intrastate migrations happen due to poverty and drought situations in Maharashtra Majority of the people engaged as daily wage laborers or as beggars etc There is also a huge population of Bangladesh labourersldquoAlso most of the time even if the deceased are identified the claimants are not keen to come forward and claim the body as they do not have money for carrying out the last rites and hence do not turn up Thus there are no institutional mechanism of keeping records in terms of photo finger impressions and track on such migrated people in case of death or injuriesrdquo