Manipur Ethnic Violence: 88 unclaimed and four unidentified bodies lie in the morgue

Imphal: The Manipur government under the directive of the Supreme Court of India has appealed to the general masses to identify four unidentified dead bodies presently lying at the state government-run Jawarharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, (JNIMS) Imphal.

The Apex Court also directed the state government to undertake the burial process of the unclaimed bodies by December 12, 2023, if they were still unclaimed.

The body of a man and remnants of three burnt human bodies are lying at JNIMS Mortuary, Imphal, the state officials said on Wednesday.

There are 175 dead bodies of which, 171 were identified bodies.

Eighty-three of these bodies were claimed by the relatives or the next of kin, 88 were unclaimed and the remaining four bodies were unidentified in the mortuaries.

For the unidentified bodies, the court directed the Manipur government to carry out the burial or cremation process keeping due observance of religious rites.

The state government has also been directed to collect DNA samples of all bodies as many deceased persons were part of numerous criminal investigations.

The Supreme Court Bench, comprising Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, and Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, passed directions based on a report prepared by the committee led by Justice Gita Mittal.

The committee formed by the Supreme Court on 7 August 2023 has the humanitarian aspects such as compensation and rehabilitation of victims in the Manipur violence that erupted on May 3, 2023.

The violence cost the lives of around 200 persons and 61,000 people were displaced.