Order to destroy skeletons in UP Police cupboards; More Than 500 More Tumble Out In 3 Dists

LUCKNOW: Human skeletons continue to tumble out of the closet of UP Police with over 500 (some in parts) found at Bahraich, Bareilly and Moradabad Reserve Police Lines store rooms on Sunday. Director general of police (DGP) A K Jain issued orders to all district police chiefs to dispose of all cases related to human parts supposedly preserved as evidence within a period of one month.“Within the next 30 days all district police chiefs will have to dispose of pending matters in which viscera and human body parts are preserved for want of court's nod. We have also sought help of the state home department and request the principal secretary home to instruct the District Magistrates (DM) to provide all possible help in this regard,” said Jain, talking to the TOI on Sunday.
In Bahraich, the skeletons were found in a store room situated on the Reserve Police Lines compound. Though senior officials were tight-lipped, sources said efforts were on to locate the cases related to the skeletons found and dispose of them after due clearance from the court concerned.
The DGP said he had already spoken to SSP Moradabad in this regard and that he would personally monitor the issue till the final disposal of the cases is complete. “We have decided to take up the issue at war-footing and at least allow decent last rights to the deceased,” Jain said.
In Gorakhpur, about 270km from the state capital, reports suggested that skeletons were discovered at an old post-mortem house in the Cantonment area. Local officials said the place used to be a post mortem house which was shifted to the medical college hospital.
On Thursday, over a hundred skeletons were found wrapped in plastic bags and dumped in a room close to the servant quarters and the police station at Unnao, triggering panic among the officials. While ruling out foul play, officials admitted that the recovery raised serious questions over the way unclaimed bodies had been disposed.
“It seems that a large number of unclaimed bodies had simply been dumped and are not disposed of in accordance with the rules,” said inspector general law & order.
Hospital authorities said police often failed to provide adequate documents while bringing the corpses for post mortem examinations, resulting in unclaimed bodies.