THE LEGAL ROUTE

Speaking to The Quint, former IPS Officer P K Jain explained both the legal and illegal ways by which these human cadavers be procured, in the first instance, and smuggled through, in the second.

The legal route is the one that’s been in practice for hundreds of years of Indian medical history. With India having a population of billions, keeping a record of the “unclaimed bodies” is not an easy feat.

Despite the Modi government’s call for a Bill regarding the creation of a database of DNA profiles to locate missing persons across the country and to identify unclaimed bodies, to be passed in the Monsoon session of the Parliament this year, the number of unidentified bodies in the country have remained consistently high.

As per the most recent data, an NCRB report showed that 2015 itself, the number of unclaimed bodies were recorded as follows: 6,185 in Maharashtra, 3,739 in Tamil Nadu, 3,533 in Karnataka, 3,409 in Uttar Pradesh, 3,086 in West Bengal, 3,063 in Delhi and 2,416 in Gujarat, for starters. A 2011 NCRB report, quoted by India Today, reports that an average of 102 unidentified bodies were found in India every day that year.

An article by The Hindu simplifies what happens next. An unidentified body is kept in the mortuary for a span of three weeks, after which if no one come forth to claim it, the necessary paperwork is carried out and the body is given to hospitals.

This, after it receives due approval from a magistrate (a government official who is in charge of these proceedings), to be given to the students to practise on, Jain added.