Boy missing for 8 days found in mortuary

Neither did the police have any clue about his identity for these eight days nor did they make any evident effort to identify the body.

Moreover,on March 30 itself,the family had gone to the Sector 24 police post to get a ‘missing’ complaint lodged,but to no avail. It was finally lodged on April 2.

While the Sector 24 police post comes under the jurisdiction of the Sector 11 police station,the body was found in Sector 8 — which comes under the Sector 3 police station. Both the police stations are in the city’s central sub-division,managed by ASP Deshraj.

According to norms,the police post/station where a ‘missing’ report is lodged has to flash the message to all police stations,posts,hospitals,etc and even to neighbouring police stations. This was apparently not done in Balram’s case. His brother Chander told Newsline: “Balram was spotted in the Sector 24 market,where we own a booth. He was watching the India-Pakistan cricket match. The police claim that he was found dead in Sector 8 — some unidentified vehicle crushed him and left him on the roadside. What were they doing all these days? There were injuries only on Balram’s head. Even his clothes were clean. There were abrasions on his hands but no injury marks on any other body part. How can it be a case of accident?”

Chander and his relatives went to the Sector 24 police post on March 30 to lodge a ‘missing’ report. The officers there refused to do so. “The officers were so callous that they did not even bother to listen to us. The ‘missing’ report was lodged only after two days. We on our own went to the newspapers and local TV channels and got Balram’s picture published,with the hope that we may get a clue. Somebody suggested that we should also check the hospitals as well. We went to GMSH-16 today and found that Balram’s body has been lying in the hospital mortuary for over a week,” said Chander.

Balram,who used to work as a peon at a Sector 8 office,was the family’s sole bread-earner and is survived by his mother Lathya Rani and younger brother Krishan. The family will claim the body on Saturday,following the postmortem examination.

Yes,lapses did take place: ASP

It is a standard norm. We do publicise pictures of missing persons and unidentified bodies in newspapers and flash messages to the police stations. In this case,too,the procedure was followed,”said ASP Deshraj. Asked why the police could not recognise the missing person even though he was found dead in an area under the same sub-division,Deshraj said: “Yes some lapse did take place. We are looking into it”. He,however,denied that the family had approached the police for the first time on March 30. Deshraj claimed the day was April 2.