Officers forced to pay for processing, burial of unidentified bodies
Police can get reimbursed, but the amount is usually less than Rs200.
LAHORE:
The legal formalities involved in disposing of an unidentified body can result in heavy personal expenses for the police officer in charge. As a result, the police spend a lot of time trying to pass off jurisdiction on each other.
Funds are allocated in the Police Department for the burial of unidentified bodies, but they are such paltry sums that most officials don’t even bother to claim refunds.
One or two unidentified bodies are found in the city every day. When a body is found close to the boundary of a police station’s jurisdiction, it often results in a protracted standoff over which station is responsible.
A police officer said that if a body is found floating in the canal, police personnel make sure that it doesn’t stay in their precincts. “If it gets stuck in rubbish or against the sides, you pick up a stick and push it away,” he said.
“The main reason is that they don’t want to end up having to pay from their own pockets to bury the body,” said a police official on condition of anonymity. “It has happened to me several times. I do not expect any sort of reimbursement.” He said private charities like Edhi and Subhani help the police bury bodies in 90 per cent of cases, but if they did not, the officer in charge of the body had to arrange for the burial, which alone costs Rs5,000-6,000.
There are various other expenses that come up. The first step after police claim a body is to take 12 pictures of it, which costs about Rs300. Taking the body to a morgue requires a van, which can be hired for somewhere between Rs400 and Rs800, depending on distance. Another Rs200-300 goes to staff that carry the body to the freezers. If the body remains unidentified and unclaimed at the morgue for more than three days, the morgue has to be paid another few hundred rupees to keep it in storage. The officer in charge also has to arrange a van to transport the body for autopsy, if needed, another cost of a few hundred rupees.
“It is not that the police are heartless,” said one officer. “The body becomes the responsibility of the sub inspector. Even if he gets suspended or transferred to another police station, he has to dispose of the body.”
Deputy Superintendent of Police Khalid Mahmood told The Express Tribune that for the officers who were burdened with the responsibility of an unidentified body, “it is like if they had killed the person”. He said police officers had no choice but to pay.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Administration) Tariq Saleem said policemen could file claims for refunds for expenses after submitting bills, but the amount they received in return, less than Rs200, was so small that most did not even bother to apply.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 29th, 2011.
The legal formalities involved in disposing of an unidentified body can result in heavy personal expenses for the police officer in charge. As a result, the police spend a lot of time trying to pass off jurisdiction on each other.
Funds are allocated in the Police Department for the burial of unidentified bodies, but they are such paltry sums that most officials don’t even bother to claim refunds.
One or two unidentified bodies are found in the city every day. When a body is found close to the boundary of a police station’s jurisdiction, it often results in a protracted standoff over which station is responsible.
A police officer said that if a body is found floating in the canal, police personnel make sure that it doesn’t stay in their precincts. “If it gets stuck in rubbish or against the sides, you pick up a stick and push it away,” he said.
“The main reason is that they don’t want to end up having to pay from their own pockets to bury the body,” said a police official on condition of anonymity. “It has happened to me several times. I do not expect any sort of reimbursement.” He said private charities like Edhi and Subhani help the police bury bodies in 90 per cent of cases, but if they did not, the officer in charge of the body had to arrange for the burial, which alone costs Rs5,000-6,000.
There are various other expenses that come up. The first step after police claim a body is to take 12 pictures of it, which costs about Rs300. Taking the body to a morgue requires a van, which can be hired for somewhere between Rs400 and Rs800, depending on distance. Another Rs200-300 goes to staff that carry the body to the freezers. If the body remains unidentified and unclaimed at the morgue for more than three days, the morgue has to be paid another few hundred rupees to keep it in storage. The officer in charge also has to arrange a van to transport the body for autopsy, if needed, another cost of a few hundred rupees.
“It is not that the police are heartless,” said one officer. “The body becomes the responsibility of the sub inspector. Even if he gets suspended or transferred to another police station, he has to dispose of the body.”
Deputy Superintendent of Police Khalid Mahmood told The Express Tribune that for the officers who were burdened with the responsibility of an unidentified body, “it is like if they had killed the person”. He said police officers had no choice but to pay.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Administration) Tariq Saleem said policemen could file claims for refunds for expenses after submitting bills, but the amount they received in return, less than Rs200, was so small that most did not even bother to apply.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 29th, 2011.