under which section unclaimed dead body is disposed of

Hello!

After reading your query, I would like you to know that different states have different rules of disposing of unclaimed bodies. For instance, The Punjab police rule states that if a body is unidentified, the officer making the investigation shall record a careful descripttion of it, giving all marks, peculiarities, deformities, other distinctive features and shall take the finger impressions.

In addition to taking all other reasonable steps to secure identification he shall, if possible, have it photographed. In cases where such action appears desirable, a descripttion should be published in the criminal intelligence Gazette.

The unidentified body should be handed over to any charitable society which is willing to accept them, and if no such society comes forward, they should then be buried or burnt.

In Delhi, the police send a telegram message called "Hue and cry notice’ to various police headquarters of the country. The "Hue and cry notice’ contains a brief descripttion of the identification features of the deceased. The body is preserved in the mortuary for 72 hours from the time the telegram message is sent. If there is no one to claim the body after 72 hours the police are legally authorized to dispose of the body.

But if the police think that the body may be identified by the relatives, it should be preserved for a longer time until relatives come and claim the body.

The expenditure on the disposal of the body in the unidentified case is born by the police department. This is applicable in medicolegal cases expired outside the hospital or inside the hospital.

As per the human transplant act 1994, the hospital authority is authorized to give permission for the removal of any human organ from the unclaimed body after 48 hours. However, if the hospital has reason to believe that some near relative might object, the permission to remove the organ must not be given. The unclaimed M.L.C. bodies in hospital should be handed over to the police who shall dispose of the body after postmortem.

As per the recent notice by the Department of Health and Family Welfare, when body remains unclaimed for 48 hours after the information is provided to the relatives about the death, the body should be declared unclaimed under Epidemic Control Act 1897 and the district administration should carry out the last rites as per religious belief known to the district administration as per protocol.

In this case, all the expenses on transportation of the dead body required manpower and expenses of such funeral will be a valid charge on National Disaster Mitigate Fund

Hope this helps!

Regards

Meghna Mishra