chief
Prime VIP
Jaipur/Bikaner, June 20
The bodies of two Pakistani prisoners have been awaiting burial for the past six months as their funeral is still stuck in files due to delay in response from the Centre over the issue.
The prisoners, 65-year-old Mohammad Bashir of Chistia village in Bahawal Nagar district and 45-year-old Mukhtiar Ali from 12 Chak in Pakistan, died undergoing medical treatment. While Bashir died in January, Ali breathed his last in April. Both of them were brought to Bikaner by the authorities from Sriganganagar district jail. Their bodies were lying in mortuary of Bikaner’s PBM Medical College till now, but they have recently been shifted to the college’s anatomy department.
The police has intimated the Director-General (Jail), district collector, Rajasthan Home Department and even the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), but are yet to receive any response from them.
Bikaner Divisional Commissioner Pritam Singh said they had written letters to the authorities through the district collector and were awaiting their reply. He added that if nobody came forward, then it was the responsibility of the local Municipal Corporation to cremate them.
However, doctors at Bikaner say this is not the first time that they are facing such a problem as it happens every time a Pakistani prisoner dies in India. “We have sent reminders to the district authorities many times now, as nobody is coming forward to claim or dispose of these bodies. The most we could do was to inform the local magistrate and keep the bodies in the anatomy department,” said Vinod Biyani, superintendent of PBM Medical College.
The bodies of two Pakistani prisoners have been awaiting burial for the past six months as their funeral is still stuck in files due to delay in response from the Centre over the issue.
The prisoners, 65-year-old Mohammad Bashir of Chistia village in Bahawal Nagar district and 45-year-old Mukhtiar Ali from 12 Chak in Pakistan, died undergoing medical treatment. While Bashir died in January, Ali breathed his last in April. Both of them were brought to Bikaner by the authorities from Sriganganagar district jail. Their bodies were lying in mortuary of Bikaner’s PBM Medical College till now, but they have recently been shifted to the college’s anatomy department.
The police has intimated the Director-General (Jail), district collector, Rajasthan Home Department and even the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), but are yet to receive any response from them.
Bikaner Divisional Commissioner Pritam Singh said they had written letters to the authorities through the district collector and were awaiting their reply. He added that if nobody came forward, then it was the responsibility of the local Municipal Corporation to cremate them.
However, doctors at Bikaner say this is not the first time that they are facing such a problem as it happens every time a Pakistani prisoner dies in India. “We have sent reminders to the district authorities many times now, as nobody is coming forward to claim or dispose of these bodies. The most we could do was to inform the local magistrate and keep the bodies in the anatomy department,” said Vinod Biyani, superintendent of PBM Medical College.
