The responsibility of staying back with unclaimed bodies in Munger district is something nobody - police or hospital authorities - wants to take up.

There is no mortuary in the district and its surrounding areas in Lakhisarai and Sheikhpura. The police are, according to law, supposed to preserve bodies for 72 hours to ensure identification. In the absence of a mortuary, the police leave the bodies in the post-mortem room at the Munger Sadar Hospital.

The hospital employees, who are expected to man the room, resist this every time. The deputy superintendent of the hospital has written a letter to the administration about developing one to end the deadlock.

An employee in the post-mortem room of the sadar hospital, Ravindra Kumar Bharti, said staying behind at the facility with the unidentified bodies is nothing short of an ordeal for him.

'The police are supposed to preserve unclaimed bodies for 72 hours but in the absence of a mortuary, they leave the bodies in the post-mortem room. Although I can leave after a post-mortem, officers insist that I stay behind with my assistant and preserve the bodies for 72 hours. There is no provision for it here and who will stay behind with the bodies is a big question too. The police officers don't want to. There are heated arguments every time over this. Things have become really tough for my assistant and me,' said Bharti.

Rakesh Kumar Sinha, the deputy superintendent of Munger Sadar hospital, said on an average, 10 unclaimed bodies are brought to the health hub every month from Munger, Lakhisarai and Sheikhpura districts. He said arguments over preservation of the unidentified bodies at the post-mortem room have become order of the day.

He added: 'There is no mortuary or any temporary management to preserve the unclaimed bodies for 72 hours. The tussle over guarding the unclaimed bodies for 72 hours has become a headache for the hospital authorities and the police. I have written letters to senior administrative and police officers, including the Munger divisional commissioner and deputy inspector-general of police (Munger range), asking them to take steps for the development of a mortuary on the hospital premises.'

While superintendent of police Varun Kumar Sinha refused to comment, district magistrate Amrendra Prasad Singh told The Telegraph over phone that he was out of town and unaware about the issue.