HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Telangana High Court on Monday directed the State government to submit a fresh status report in the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Abhinava Colony Residents Association (ACRA) asking respondents to take necessary steps to preserve the unclaimed and unidentified bodies in different hospitals situated on the outskirts of the city until the new police mortuary is constructed at the Gandhi Hospital.
In 2012, the petitioners, represented by ACRA president Rajeev Deshpande and seven others, filed a PIL demanding direction from the court and asking authorities to initiate construction works for the new mortuary. On Monday, Deshpande termed the decisions of the then Hyderabad Commissioner of Police (CP) and Chilakalguda Station House Officer (SHO) to leave unclaimed and unidentified bodies outside the mortuary as illegal, arbitrary, and in violation of the provisions of the Indian Constitution.
They urged the court to direct all respondents to take the necessary actions to remove all unidentified, unclaimed, decomposed and decaying bodies from the Gandhi Hospital mortuary’s and move all of the bodies to the city outskirts and destroy them by burning, apart from maintaining the hygiene and sanitation condition in the premises. The trial will continue on November 10.