The identities of the 12 bodies found burnt in the Chuchepati area of ​​Kathmandu and the Bhatbhateni supermarket in Dharan and Biratnagar during the protests on 24 Bhadra have not been revealed for a month and a half. Even state agencies and protest leaders have not taken any interest or initiative to identify the deceased.

While cleaning Bhatbhateni stores, four charred human skeletons were found in Dharan on 27th Bhadau and one in Biratnagar. Similarly, seven bodies were found in Chuchepati on 29th Bhadau. Since the bodies were completely burnt, even the penis could not be identified. 

Bhatbhateni has already stated that it does not have any employees. Similarly, the police say that since the Bhatbhateni stores were closed on that day, they were not customers. There is a police record that Bikash Rasaili of Ramechhap Khadkadevi Rural Municipality-6 died of a burn injury in Koteshwor Bhatbhateni. His identity was revealed through his mobile phone after his body was found on 1st Asoj. 

The local levels have already cremated the five bodies found in Dharan and Biratnagar. The bodies found on the first and third floors of Bhatbhateni Supermarket in Chuchepati have been wrapped in plastic and kept at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. 

Similarly, the police have stated that one body was found on the second floor and three on the third floor of Bhatbhateni in Dharan. The bodies found in Dharan and Biratnagar were almost charred, so samples were collected for DNA testing and cremated, according to the Sunsari and Morang District Police Offices. 

Sunsari SP Keshav Thebe said, “The bones were found, we sent them to the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences for postmortem and DNA. Since they were almost charred, the bodies have been handed over to the municipality and cremated.”

He said that one of the four bodies was claimed to be that of a relative, and one person even filed a petition. “Despite the relative’s claim, it has not been confirmed through DNA,” he said. 

Morang Police Chief SP Narayan Prasad Chimaria said that the cremation was carried out with the help of the local level after the identity of the body found burnt on the second floor of Bhatbhateni in Biratnagar could not be revealed. “The name, surname, and country of origin could not be revealed, the body was almost charred, we collected evidence for DNA and handed over the body to the local municipality,” he said.

According to SP Pawan Kumar Bhattarai of Kathmandu Police Range, no one has come to claim the bodies found burnt in Chuchepati Bhatbhateni. ‘These bodies are completely burnt. No family or relatives have come to claim them,’ he said, ‘We have sent them to the police forensic laboratory to see if DNA tests can be done.’

Although 15 people have died in commercial buildings and private houses across the country, including Bhatbhateni, after the identities of others were revealed, the families have received the bodies after conducting post-mortems. Police have data that protesters died in a private house in Lalitpur, a commercial building in Thankot, Kathmandu, and houses and buildings in Kaski, Chitwan and Parsa.

Similarly, the body of Saroj Khatri of Kavre Bhumlu-4 was found in a private house in Lalitpur. Police have said that the body of a local Madan family was found in a commercial building in Thankot, Chandragiri.

Swasthani Khadka and Kanchhi Nagarkoti of Dolakha died after falling into a commercial building in Kaski. Police have stated that Sushila Devi Paswan and Saroj Gurung died in arson attacks on private houses in Parsa and Chitwan, respectively.

According to the Home Ministry, 76 people were killed across the country in the protests on 23 and 24 Bhadra. Of these, 22 were killed in Baneshwor and Itahari in Kathmandu during the protests on 23 Bhadra. The post-mortem report shows that all of them were shot in the waist, and most of them were shot in the head and chest. On 24 Bhadra, 41 protesters, 10 prisoners who were escaping, and 3 policemen were killed in the beatings of protesters in Kathmandu. Of the deaths on 24 Bhadra, 17 protesters were found to have been shot. The post-mortem report also mentions that they were shot in the waist. 39 protesters were shot across the country on both days.

In these two days, 35 people were killed by gunfire in the Kathmandu Valley alone, according to the report of the Forensic Department of the Teaching Hospital, 19 were shot in the chest, 10 in the head, 4 in the stomach and 2 in the neck. 10 prisoners were killed by gunfire fired by the army and police. Two in Maharajgunj and one policeman in Koteshwor were beaten up by protesters.

On 24 Bhadra, vandalism and arson began at around 11 am in police circles and units including Maharajgunj, Balaju, Swayambhu, Kalimati, Kalanki, Baneshwor, Durbarmarg, Koteshwor, Gaushala in Kathmandu. However, since the police offices were burnt, it was not possible to document the incidents that took place there and for that reason, the police said that the spot where the gunfire was fired could not be confirmed. The families of the deceased have been claiming that the police fired from all three police circles. Apart from the Kathmandu Valley, protesters died in Sunsari, Jhapa, Morang, Chitwan, Kaski and Parsa on 24 Bhadra. 

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One of the leaders of the Gen-G movement, Raksha Bam, expressed ignorance about the unidentified bodies. ‘We have been raising issues with the government, including relief for the families of the martyrs and treatment of the injured, but we were not aware that the deceased had not been identified,’ she said.

Police spokesperson DIG Binod Ghimire said that none of the bodies have been identified so far. ‘No one has come to claim that the bodies are those of their relatives,’ he said. ‘Since the bodies found in abandoned conditions are almost in ashes, DNA tests cannot be done.’