Over two months after they were killed allegedly in two brutal assaults that took place during the north-east Delhi riots in late February, the families of Anwar Kassar and Mohammad Shahbaz still await their mortal remains — a foot and some parts of a human skull attached to traces of a spine — to be handed over to them.
Though the DNA reports have confirmed that the foot belongs to 60-year-old Kassar and the skull and spine to 22-year-old Shahbaz, the remains lie in evidence bags in police custody, complained the family members who are seeking a closure to their prolonged trauma. Investigators have cited deployment issues and movement restrictions due to the ongoing nationwide lockdown as the reason for the delay in handing over the remains, say Kassar’s daughter Gulshan Bano and Shahbaz’s elder brother Maltub Alam. These restrictions have, however, not affected the investigators’ action against alleged culprits from the area who continue to be detained or placed under arrest.
“I had called to ask about the DNA report of my father’s foot on April 16. They told me it had matched and the remains were lying at the police station. They said it was just a foot that was left and I could take it after the lockdown,” said Gulshan, a resident of Pilkhuwa in U.P. Kassar, a resident of Shiv Vihar, was allegedly pulled out of his residence, assaulted, thrown into a fire and shot multiple times as his body burnt on February 25. “Whatever remains of him should be handed over to us. That’s the least they can do. Isn’t this the government’s responsibility?” she asked.
Shahbaz, a welder, had gone to the Guru Nanak Eye Centre on the morning of February 25. The remains of his body, fished out of a drain in Shiv Vihar, were deposited at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital mortuary. His brother identified the remains on the basis of traces of clothes found with the skull and spine.
“The DNA report came a few days before the first lockdown was announced. I was told the remains would be given to us after the lockdown ended. I have been in touch with them [the police] and now they are saying some other test needs to be conducted. I don’t even know where his remains are,” said Maltub Alam.
A senior police officer said there were many cases in which DNA test was required to establish the identity of the deceased. The samples were sent to Forensic Science Laboratory and reports of many samples have arrived. They will follow up the pending cases with FSL.
“There is a need to be a standard operating procedure regarding the identification of victims when it comes to instances of mass disasters, in this case riots, resulting in a large number of unidentified bodies, so that the remains can be handed over to the kith and kin of the victims for the sake of closure. The High Court has observed the same in Shahbaz’s case,” said advocate Ritesh Dhar Dubey, who represented both Maltub and Gulshan.
Director of Delhi Forensic Science Laboratory Deepa Verma said that cases related to Delhi riots have been dealt with high priority and reports of most of the DNA samples have been sent. The remaining reports will be submitted at the earliest.
A senior official with the FSL said that during the initial days of lockdown, the FSL staff faced problems in commuting and those who were sent to the Tablighi Jamaat centre for examination were qurantined, leading to staff shortage for a few days. Also the DNA samples were sent to the FSL one after another, as per the requirement in each case. When the claimants approached police, then only they forwarded the request to the FSL.
“Following the High Court guidelines, we are dealing with all the cases related to Delhi riots on high priority. The last lot of samples are under process and the final reports will be submitted soon,” said the official.
