Mangaluru: As the saying in Bible, “Then the dust [of mortals] goes back to the ground as it was before, and the breath of life goes back to God who gave it”, eight unclaimed bodies that were lying at the Wenlock Hospital mortuary for nearly three months were finally buried at the Hindu Rudra Bhoomi-Nandigudda here. This was the first time that I have ever been inside this Hindu Nandigudda burial ground to witness the burial of not just one body, but eight bodies buried simultaneously. It was indeed a very sad scene to see the eight bodies wrapped in white cloth, and buried without the presence of their family members, relatives or loved ones.
Since these 8 bodies had overstayed at the mortuary and they had no other option than to bury them at the public cemetery, members of the Human rights Federation of India-Mangaluru had taken the initiative to bury the 8 unclaimed bodies with full respect, prayers etc. The decision was taken today to reduce congestion at the mortuary. The services at the mortuary have been over-stretched due to the uncollected bodies which have overstayed at the mortuary. The majority of the uncollected bodies are those that were brought in by police officers or members of the public.
Speaking to me, Vijay Prasad Alva-Executive Director of Human Rights Federation of India-Mangaluru said, ” All these years unclaimed bodies that were lying at the Wenlock mortuary were sold to medical institutions for big bucks without the knowledge of the district administration. Just few months back we took the initiative to stop the illegal practice of selling these unclaimed bodies. We approached the Deputy Commissioner AB Ibrahim on this issue, and he was very kind enough to oblige our request, thereby putting an end to the old practice of selling unclaimed bodies to strangers”.
Alva further said, “Today we decided to bury eight bodies that were lying in the morgue for nearly three months- all the expenses for the puja, bathing the bodies, flowers, coconuts, Agarbathis, bhajan group etc have been borne by us. Burial expenses will be borne by the City corporation. Expenses for transporting the bodies to the burial ground by ambulances were borne by various donors. We feel blessed to be involved in this project”.
This is first time in Mangaluru that unclaimed bodies from Wenlock mortuary did get buried with due respect and traditional religious rites. The eight bodies were transported in 8 ambulances in a procession from Wenlock morgue via clock tower-Hampankatta- Attavar Rd and towards the Nandigudda burial ground. The bodies were then sprinkled with Tulasi water, prayers were offered by a Sanjeev S-a citizen, and then the bodies were carried by the members of the Human Rights Federation, and then buried individually.
Speaking to me, the three member Bhajana Group comprising of Shankara, Ramesh and Bhasker said, “We are the only one left presently to do this Bhajan service. We have been in this field for the last 25 years, and we will continue to provide our service till we are able to perform our duties”. Maxim D’Silva who undertakes the burial work for such kind of unclaimed bodies for the district administration said that expenses for burying each body is Rs 1900, which will be paid by the MCC.
The names of the dead buried are: Dayananda Shetty-65 yrs; Malesha-48yrs; Panduranga Rao-65yrs; Muttamma-60yrs; Rathnamma-60yrs; Shailesh-24yrs; two bodies are unidentified. May their Soul Rest In Peace!
I agree it is illegal to sell unclaimed dead bodies to the medical colleges. But it is nothing wrong to donate to the medical college for teaching or research purpose.