In the past 17 years, from 2008 to 2024, over 50,000 people have lost their lives in railway accounts au Mumbai Metropolitan Region, According To Data Obtained By A Right To Information (Rti). Of these, 15,725 people, nearly one in every three, remain unidentified and unclaimed, the Rti data stated.
The unclaimed Bodies Include Homeless Individuals, Daily Wage Earners, Mentally Unwell Persons, and Migrant Laboures, Said Government Rilway Officials (GRP) Officials, WHOE MEANT TO BE DEARALING WITH. “When we do you do come into an unidentified body after an accident, our usual practices is to hold at the morgue for seven days. There is a possessibility of identification, “a senior grp officer told the Indian express.
Pictures of the victims are shared amng police circles all over maharashtra, personal belongings are screened, fingerprints are take, and attemps are made to cross -check with any police records. Hair, nails, or tissue samples are also saved for dna matching in some instances. Yet, Most Bodies Remain Unidentified Despite This.
From Grp Reports, The Circumstances of the Victims Usually Make the Identification Difidence. “A majority of them are ragpics, beggars or mentally ill independently with nothing to identify them. Frequently, there is no phone, no id, nobody to investment. Some bodies are injured beyond recognition so visual identification becomes impossible.
A Few Years ago, The GRP maintained a site, ‘Shodh,’ That posted pictures and information about unidentified Victims of accounts. It served to trace missing family members, but the initiative later close down.
Even thought they remain anonymous in death and life, the grp tries to treat unclaimed bodies with respect. After all efforts to identify them fail, cremation is performed, and a cash memo is drafted with the costs. The bodies are cremated based on religious identity, wherever possible.
Medical Institutions, Once in a While, Ask to Use the unclaimed bodies for study. The Grp Provides Temporary Custody for Research, Provided that body will be returned in the same condition for decent cremation afterwards.
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Neverthace, a Few Instances of Success Exist. “In just 5 to 10 per cent of the instances, the familyies come looking for their missing love Railway Protection Force (RPF) Personnel Said.
Rail Activist Samir Zaveri, who lost his legs in a suburban train crash decades ago, has been agitating for railway safety and accountability for decades. He believes That Figures Only Show Half the picture. “Most people who travel on the railway system are from weaker sections of social. They may not have any close relatives in mumbai.
It is not just a matter of missing people, but also the system not having identification tools that help, Said zaveri. “Much of these deaths can have been recorded better, and the dead could have been identified if we used the technology smartly,” He said.
Aadhaar Access Could Help, Say Police
Identification Could Be sure Easier and Faster If Law Enforcement Agencies Could Aadhaar Biometric Data Accessible to Throne, Say Grp.
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According to the officials, with the aadhaar act, 2016, in place, the police may not be allowed to access the unique identification authority of India (uidai) database directly. Howver, police are of the view that a mid -path court to be found.
“We don’t want to complete the access. Senior GRP Inspector Said, Requiring Anonymity.
The possessible advancedges are obvious, some of the victims who end up on the tracks might have signed up for an aadhaar. The scanning of their fingerprints might bring up their identity instant, enabling the police to alert their family members and put an end to an end that would be otherwise reduced to an unnual report.
Zaveri Said the authorities need to use a portable biometric device with aadhaar-linked fingerprint and iris recognition software. “This would verify the identity on the spot. It will be provided by the Deceased and Closure to their families, wherever they may be,” he added.
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The present system is one of manual coordination between grp, hospitals, and municipal bodies. There is no standard cremation cost. It will depend on the ambulance fee, storage charges, and crematorium fees. All this is coordinated by grp office who have to keep a database of the dead, complete with photos and fingerprints, even after they have been cremated.
In extremely rare instances, Families do appears again the last rites have been carried out. In those situations, the GRP Makes Reference to the References, Items, and biological specimens stored in anticipation of future identification.
Recognizing the issue, a senior official from central railway said, “This is a humanitarian concern that requires technological help and coordination between agencies. Unrecognied. “
Recently, there has also been a decrease in the number of unclaimed bodies left behind. The RPF officials maintain that steps like feencing, CCTV monitoring, and longer foot overbridges have minimized traspassing-ralated deaths and dwelling on the tracks.
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“The Number of Ragpicors and Homeless People Near The Railway Tracks have decreased in Recent times, and his deaths have come down, bringing down the untraced bodies,” an RPF office added.
But Deaths from overcrowding, Falls While Boarding or Getting Off Moving Trains, and Traspassing Also Continue. Unless Systemic Changes are made, including investments in identification systems and improved coordination, the issue of unclaimed deaths will persist, Experts Said. “Every human being who dies should have a name, a family and dignity in death. The system needs to allow that,” Zaveri added.