Together they lie in an eternal wait

“The State is simply wasting money and electricity to keep these bodies intact.” This was the view of. a forensic doctor in J J Hospital who, along with other doctors, had just finished inspecting the cold room and condition of bodies of the eight slain militants, which lie stacked inside.

The bodies have been included in the latest body tally compiled for eight hospitals in Mumbai among 19 unclaimed bodies of “foreigners” following the Terror attack. While bodies of eight of the militants are in the J J Hospital, one has been shifted to the Nair Hospital.

“We do not expect anyone will come forward to claim these bodies. They may keep lying in the cold room for months,” said one of the doctors who had also performed autopsies on the men who caused the death of the 27 other victims, whose bodies, similarly, lie unclaimed.

The J J Hospital’s cold room, with its blood-splattered floor and overpowering stench, has, thus, become something like Mumbai’s no-man’s-land.

Hospital records show that in all, 170 autopsies have been performed following the attack with 134 bodies being handed over to relatives. In all, 36 bodies are unclaimed, including those of the nine militants. In J J Hospital, bodies of eight militants lie along with 10 other foreigners. The number of unclaimed bodies of Indian victims here is 17.

The doctors said that the militants were all aged between 20-25 years. “They could easily be mistaken for college kids of Mumbai. Each of them has multiple bullet injuries with most of the bullets going through the bodies because of high-velocity firing,” one forensic doctor said. “And since they were killed in the end, their bodies are in good condition in comparison to the victims.”

Like the police, the doctors also say that they found nothing on the bodies which will help in their identification.

Top police officers handling the Mumbai investigations, point out that it is early days yet to take a decision on the burial or dispatch of the nine bodies of the militants.

Says A N Roy, Maharashtra’s Director General of Police, “That decision will not be taken by us and we have not raised this point with anyone in Government as yet.”

In the meantime, at least one Muslim body in Mumbai, the Muslim Council issued a statement that the militants should not be permitted to have a burial on Indian soil.

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