Unclaimed : John and Jane Does fill up local morgues

Several unidentified bodies picked up from across the city are still waiting to be sent to their final abode

LAHORE:

Reports reveal that the number of unclaimed and unidentified bodies stocked in morgues of Lahore’s biggest public hospitals has reached close to 35, with no apparent plan for their burial. As the police continue to bring in more bodies, it is feared that the city’s government mortuaries, which already operate on insufficient capacity, will soon run out of space.

Per sources privy to the matter, most of these John and Jane Does currently rest in morgues affiliated with Mayo Hospital and Jinnah Hospital and are alleged to be homeless people, drug addicts, and petty criminals who expired on the streets last season, and were picked up and submitted to the hospitals by the local police.

The source further claimed that the delay in the burial proceedings is owed to a change in policy. Previously, it was charities like the Edhi Foundation that would graciously send volunteers to arrange for the burial of unclaimed and unidentified bodies at the morgue. “Now, it is the Lahore Police that has been made responsible for arranging the burial of these bodies. But, the local police force, until recently, was fully occupied with security arrangements for the Pakistan Super League cricket matches, owing to which the final rites of the dead were put on indefinite hold,” the source said.

Most of these dead bodies currently stored in Lahore’s morgues have been put in cold storage since January of this year, and have gone over three months without any sign of being sent to their final abode. “All of them stand unidentified so far. They are handled by the police for which there is a procedure and the police station of each area is responsible for burying the body found in their area,” explained a hospital source.

According to Edhi Foundation’s Spokesperson Faisal Jalal, previously such bodies would be picked up from the hospitals by their volunteers and brought to the foundation, where they would undergo postmortem. “Then the body would be kept in our mortuary until arrangements could be made for them to be bathed and shrouded, and then the funeral prayers would be performed,” said Jalal, adding that they would also take photos of the deceased and store it in their records in case a family member turns up. “We would wait for some time, but if no one would come, we would go ahead with the rest of the funeral proceedings and respectfully bury the deceased at a specific site at the Mayani Sahib graveyard.”

Later, however, the government forbade the burial of unclaimed bodies in Mayani Sahib and the city was given a place in Sheher e Khamooshan graveyard. Soon, this practice was scrapped by the government. Per Jalal, following the change in policy, the police bury the body in their area of jurisdiction. To assist the police, Edhi Foundation still provides services of funeral bath and shroud but the police use their own funds for the required arrangements. In addition to that, during its voluntary services, Edhi Foundation also kept a record of all unidentified bodies. Now, Jalal says, it is the police’s responsibility to duly investigate and keep a record of all the unclaimed bodies it is to bury.

On the other hand, when The Express Tribune contacted the Lahore Police and sought reasons behind the delay in burial on unclaimed bodies, their spokesperson claimed that the situation is being deliberated upon among their officers. However, it was learned later that officers had not been provided any information on the matter so far. The Express Tribune once again tried to contact the police spokesperson regarding the inconsistency in the provided information, but no reply has so far been issued to the press.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2022.