Unidentified corpses to get faster identification from Delhi Police

Delhi Police will soon launch a cellphone-friendly online application that will help it fast-track the identification process of thousands of unidentified bodies of vagrants it recovers from the streets every year — otherwise a time consuming affair that would take anything between 15 to 60 days. Identification of a huge number of unidentified dead bodies in Delhi is a challenging task for the 80,000-strong force catering to Delhi 17 million residents. According to police officers, the password protected application named UIDB or Unidentified Dead Bodies will reduce the time taken to inform family members of these bodies and will also help in unravelling the mystery of such cases, particularly if any foul play is involved.

Presently, if police is prima facie convinced that no foul play is involved any identified body has to be disposed off within 72 hours of its discovery by performing last rites as per its religion, if known. Otherwise, police usually cremates such bodies electrically. In many cases, family members get to know about the deaths only after last rites are performed. But the newly developed system may help in reducing the time taken to inform them.

When the system is launched finally, upon the detection of a body its picture and other descriptions, including presumed age, identification mark, height, skin colour and other details would be uploaded.