Selling of body: Centre promises action in case of complaint

"If the RTI has come to the conclusion and if we get any report from the parents of the boy then we will definitely take action," Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said when quizzed about the incident.

He said there were definite rules laid down by the government regarding how to dispose off unclaimed bodies and the procedure has to be followed by the police, medical institutions and hospitals.
"If somebody doesn't follow it whether it is police or hospital, I think it is a crime," Azad said.

The Rajasthan government yesterday admitted that 15 bodies were given to private medical colleges and hospitals without following proper legal procedure in Sriganganagar.

It, however, maintained that there was no evidence of "selling" of these bodies. Seven police personnel, including four inspectors, have been chargesheeted departmentally in this connection.

Three inspectors have also been chargesheeted. Six others, including five Assistant Sub-inspectors and one head constable, have been removed from active duty and sent to police lines.

State Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal's admission came in the Assembly in the wake of a BJP member Om Birla raising the issue following allegations by a Sriganganagar-based jeweller Rajkumar Soni that the body of his 19-year-old son Rahul, was sold to a medical college by the police.

He claimed that a Right to Information query had brought out the irregularities in disposal of unclaimed bodies by the police.

Rahul was found injured in a park in Sriganganagar town on May 25 last year and died in a hospital the next day. Soni claimed police treated him as an unidentified deceased and sold the body to a private medical college soon after post-mortem without trying to trace his relatives.