Taking into consideration the reluctance of private vehicles to carry a body from the crime scene to a mortuary, the Hyderabad police on Monday launched the ‘Forensic Corpse Carrier’.
According to reports, this is the first time in India that something like this is being implemented. The vehicle is equipped with stretchers, body covers, surgical or disposable gloves, disposable caps and masks, gauge cloth, cotton, disinfectant, betadine antiseptic cream, a torch and other items to handle the bodies.
The people who will deal with handling the bodies have been given special training to use the equipment.
In many crime cases like suspicious deaths, murder, burning, drowning and accident cases, the body is mandated to go through an autopsy and other medical examinations. This vehicle would allow the authorities to overcome the challenges faced by the investigating officer to shift the corpses in a scientific manner, Hyderabad police commissioner M Mahendar Reddy told the media.
The New Indian Express quoted the police chief as saying, "In recent news about a tribal man, Majhi in Odisha walked nearly 10 km with his daughter to his village Melhara of Kalahandi district, carrying his wife’s body on his shoulder, after he was denied a mortuary van from a government hospital. Keeping this in view, we have decided to introduce vehicles to carry bodies to mortuary."
It was also reported that the vehicle will be stationed at the Traffic Complex and it will be sent to the crime site to carry the corpse to the autopsy centre, upon requisition from the concerned Investigating Officer.