Remains of Indian Man Held at DEL Due to Lack of DNA
Jackie Reddy July 05, 2017
Jaswinder Singh died in Saudi Arabia in 2015, but his family have refused to claim his body without DNA proof of their loved one’s identity.
The remains of an Indian national who died in Saudi Arabia are being held in a morgue at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) because his family have refused to claim them without first seeing the DNA test results that would verify his identity.
The Independent reports that Jaswinder Singh, a diesel mechanic, burned to death in the country’s Al-Karj province back in November 2015. His family and relatives, however, say that Singh’s phone was still active for months after his death and are hesitant to claim his body without a final DNA verification.
The India Times has reported that authorities in Saudi Arabia did not allow Singh’s remains to leave the country until his relatives provided DNA samples in December 2016. While the body was then sent to India, it appears that officials in Saudi Arabia did not send the DNA test results along with the remains.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Dalbir Singh, the brother of Jaswinder Singh said, “When the remains reached the airport, there were neither post-mortem papers nor the DNA report, though we had sent the DNA samples from here.”
Local court officials have given India’s Ministry of External Affairs 28 days to procure the DNA report from Saudi Arabia.
“We have many clues which make us believe he could be alive or is in some problem. His phone was working even seven-eight months after his death but there was no voice at the other end,” added Dalbir Singh.
Commenting on the case, Aditya Sharda, the family’s legal counsel, said, “What could save time and expedite the justice process is to conduct the test again by matching the DNA samples of the family with the remains in Delhi. Otherwise […] the DNA report […] is yet to be received.”
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