The Bhutanese Leading the way.
After storing the body of a deceased man for more than a week, the mortuary in Thimphu, with the help of the police, handed over the body to Thimphu Thromde on March 3, to be cremated on March 4 by Thromde. There was not a single person to claim the body.
On February 25, RBP patrolling party, during their round, recovered one dead body of man in his mid 40s at around 4:30 pm. The man was found dead in an empty campsite in Hong Kong market, near Karma’s Coffee.
Police said that they could not find any clue or link to identify the deceased, such as an ID card or a mobile phone. They took a picture of the deceased and sent a search team in the locality to find out the identity but no one knew the man.
According to the police, ‘Karma’ was tattooed on the left hand of the deceased and on his right hand, he had a knife surrounded by a red snake and just below that a peace sign along with its logo were tattooed.
Upon further inquiry in the locality, police said that just a few days before the death of the man, he was once referred to hospital due to poor health conditions. “But when we asked hospital, we couldn’t confirm if he was the one who was referred to hospital before his death,” police said.
Upon examining the body, no physical injury was found. It was determined that the man was dead for 8 to 12 hours prior to being examined.
A thromde official said that since no one came to take away the dead body, they had to take over the body and conduct the final rites and cremation.
The official said, “Before, hospital use to take care of the abandoned body and do the cremation by them, but since 2001 such initiatives are handed over to the Thromde office.”
The official also said no single such case was seen in 2015 and this is the first case they are taking over in 2016. “Our responsibility is to take over the body and to do the cremation.”
