‘Corpses rot in morgues, post-mortem tools rusted’

Rotting corpses, rusted and outdated post-mortem tools and lack of doctors are a common sight in most of the mortuaries in the national Capital, a report submitted in Delhi High Court has said.

Alarmingly, the report also points out that those working in the morgues had life-expectancy below the national average, probably due to the unhygienic conditions in their workplaces. Among several deficiencies are poor condition of cooling chambers, bodies not being covered properly, corpses lying unattended on rickety tables and rusted and outdated instruments for performing autopsy, the report by advocate Saqib, appointed as amicus curiae by high court to inspect how the dead were being treated in the morgues,.

Even viscera samples, which are an important piece of evidence in criminal cases, have been seen lying unattended in open cabinets packed in polythene bags and “anyone could walk away with them”, the amicus said. This was Saqib’s third report in the matter as he told the court last week that there has been no improvement in the situation since his earlier reports. There are about 20 

morgues, which are run by the government and other agencies.

Noting that the Delhi Police has made autopsies a “matter of routine”, it said even in cases where the cause of death is well known to the concerned investigating officer (IO), there is considerable delay in disposal of bodies due to the long time taken by them to submit inquest papers, without which a doctor cannot carry out the post-mortem.

In this context, the report cites letters of an autopsy surgeon of Aruna Asaf Ali Government Hospital to its Medical Superintendent regarding 56 unclaimed unidentified bodies lying for over 72 hours in the mortuary without the inquest papers being submitted by the police for over 20 days.