NEW DELHI, July 31: An average nine unidentified bodies, largely of drug addicts and beggars, are recovered from the streets of the national capital every day.
According to a recent data of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), out of a total 37,838 unidentified bodies found across the country during the year 2012, 3,359 were found in Delhi, an average of nine bodies per day.
Other big states that have witnessed a large number of such incidents include Maharashtra, which tops the list with 5,906 unidentified bodies, Tamil Nadu with 5,319 and Uttar Pradesh with 3,996 bodies in the year 2012.
Delhi Police claims most of these people died a natural death.
“These are largely labourers who cannot afford rented accommodations and die to harsh weather conditions. Some of them are drug addicts too,” said a Delhi Police official.
“Generally, these bodies are found along railway lines and near ISBT area, as migrants, mainly from the labour class, reside in these areas in large numbers. These people mainly work as beggars, balloon sellers, rickshaw pullers, street vendors who sleep on pavements and near flyovers or railway tracks, and die in road accidents. They generally do not have any relatives with them to take care or cremate them,” he said.
Asked about the figures, Minister of Social Welfare, Delhi, Kiran Walia said a number of those found dead on Delhi’s streets are drug addicts.
“Some of these people come here with incurable diseases which are detected at a later stage. If they are provided with good medical facilities in their native towns, the problem can be solved to a great extent. Another group is that of the drug addicts who do not want to live under anyone’s watch,” she told.
Walia said that the capital has the highest number of shelter homes in the country.
“We have a number of shelter homes which still have enough capacity to accommodate more people but there a large number of this population does not want to stay here. It is a democratic society and we can’t force people to live in these shelter homes,” she said.
A large number of those found dead are in the 40-50 age group, police said.
Whenever they come across any such body, it is sent for post-mortem and in cases where the cause of death is cited as unnatural, a case under Section 174 of CrPC (unnatural death) is registered and legal proceedings initiated.
Bodies are preserved for 72 hours and last rites for those which remain unclaimed are performed at government expense.
Another reason for not claiming these bodies, the police official said, is that the families are generally not in a condition to afford medical facilities or cremation charges to perform proper rituals. (PTI)
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