Sagar
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Sept 28: Policemen having to pay a bribe for getting their routine, official work done may sound unbelievable. But if one goes by the versions of the capital city’s policemen about their work, they invariably have to pay bribes to some hospital staff, including doctors, while dealing with unclaimed dead bodies.
The cops say being entrusted with the task of disposing of an unclaimed body as per the rules proves an unwieldy burden for them, mainly because it hurts their purse. At the Capital Hospital in the city, they say, unofficial price tags are put on various acts in the course of handling unclaimed dead bodies. Lower-rung police officers, who are usually given the responsibility of picking up unclaimed dead bodies and getting autopsies done, say they have to fork out cash to hospital staff – doctors, clerks, peons, etc. – at various stages in order to get the bodies duly disposed of. No bills are given for the payments, simply because they are bribes, and the paying routine also often extends to the cemeteries.
Staffers at Capital Hospital, including doctors, allegedly demand and receive bribes from cops if the latter want the autopsy of unclaimed bodies conducted on time and seek preservation of the bodies there for 90 hours for identification purposes.
“As soon as we reach Capital Hospital with an unclaimed dead body, the peon charges Rs 100 from us to engage a doctor to have the postmortem done,” said an ASI requesting anonymity. The cops then have to pay Rs 150 for postmortem as fee to the hospital. “The doctor will not start work unless we oil his or her hands with a bribe. So we usually cough up some Rs 200 to them,” said an ASI of GRP. The hospital’s sweeper then charges Rs 20 to carry the body from the postmortem ward to the freezer.
For keeping a body preserved in the mortuary, police have to pay Rs 100 a day to the Rogi Kalyan Samiti that runs the freezers at the hospital. This money is reimbursed by the government. But if a body remains unidentified beyond 90 hours, the cops have to take the body to the cemetery, where they have to pay Rs 150 to have its last rites conducted.
“These charges exclude transportation fare. An auto driver charges between Rs 500 and Rs 800 to ferry a dead body to the hospital,” said another cop. Whenever the cops dispose of an unclaimed body, they have to spend between Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000, apart from suffering the agony of carrying badly injured or decomposed bodies.
Even though the government pays Rs 1,000 to police to dispose of a corpse, policemen say claiming reimbursement is a cumbersome process. “We mostly keep our whole expenditure in the process unbilled because it is frustrating to wait for the money to come. When it comes, our clerk in the department asks for his share before handing over the amount,” said a sub-inspector of Capital police station.
A week ago, the GRP recovered the maggot-stricken body of a man near Lingaraj railway station. The body was severed in the middle. “I could not eat any food that day. It was disgusting, but I had a job to do. The hospital staffers fleeced us. We didn’t even have money for auto fare to return to the police station,” a GRP assistant sub-inspector said.
Capital Hospital director BB Pattnaik, when contacted, rubbished allegations that doctors accept or ask for bribes. But he blamed police for the situation. “They bribe the hospital staff to get the postmortem done when they bring dead bodies past 5 pm. To conduct postmortem past 5 pm, we need a written permission from the Police Commissioner. But the cops are in hurry and want things to be done soon,” Patnaik said. “I’ve given strict instructions that all money transaction should be done through bills,” he added.
Patnaik said postmortems cannot be conducted past 5 pm since bright light is needed to ensure proper examination as the report is produced before courts. Capital Hospital receives an unidentified dead body almost every third day, said police officials.
