We could obtain original/amended Anatomy Acts and Bill from eighteen states and union territories [5–10, 12–22]. Three states confirmed in response to an RTI query that there is no Anatomy Acts in their state. Fourteen states and/ union territories did not respond to RTI query nor could the authors get act from internet/stakeholders. In one state (Manipur) the act was still a bill and was yet to be enacted [19]
The problem statement and comparison of various clauses of the act is as follows:
These sections mentioned are as per the Gujarat Anatomy Act [15]. These sections may differ serially in different acts.
Act starts with the Statement of Objects and Reasons, which states the purpose (Table III) for which the act has been enacted. The purpose does not include the use of donated bodies in twelve states namely KL, TN, GA, GJ, HP,HR,PB, CH, SK, UP,MP and AS [8,10, 12,14–18,20–22]
Section: Short title, extent and commencement.
This section is uniformly similar across all acts and contains the year of enactment and amendments thereof.
Section: Definitions
Approved institute
All the Anatomy Acts available to us include medical teaching institutes as approved institutes for the purpose of act. But acts of MH, OD, TN, GA, GJ, HP, HR, PB, CH, MP and MN also include standalone Hospitals (not attached to any medical teaching institute) as approved institutes [5,9,10, 14–17, 18, 19,20]
Authorized officer
Authorized officer are the officers competent to act for the purpose of act especially in cases of handling of unclaimed body.
In all acts officers appointed or authorised to act under this Act shall be deemed to be public servants within section 21 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Central Act 45 of 1860).
Unclaimed body
All available Anatomy Acts define unclaimed body—as body of deceased person who has no near relative. Claimants recognized by various Anatomy Acts of the body of deceased apart from near relatives are shown in table IV.
Acts of several states have included section for body donation but no act has defined a donor.
Section: Power of state government to authorise officer to act under section (Section: Procedure to handle unclaimed bodies):
In Assam, a notification of state government clarified that police officer having jurisdiction over the area is the authorized officer [12]. In Punjab government notification; the principals of the government medical colleges are the authorised officers for the purpose of the act. Whether such notification has been issued by other state governments is not known/available to us.
Section: Unclaimed dead bodies in hospitals, prisons and public place how to be dealt with:
All Anatomy Acts have clearly laid down procedure to handle the unclaimed bodies but the procedure differs from state to state.
The states namely HP, HR, PB, CH, SK and MP only mention the duty of authorized officer on intimation of unclaimed body that it is to be taken inpossession with least practicable delay and handed over to approved institute, or be disposed of in the manner prescribed [16,17, 18, 20, 21]. But there is no mention regarding suspicious death. States namely MH, DL, KA, KL, TN, UP, AS and MN also describe the procedure to be followed, if there is suspicion regarding the cause of death [5, 7, 8,10, 13, 22, 26]. It is then necessary to send the body for post mortem examination. Gujarat Anatomy Act, 2011 states that on suspicion regarding cause of death, inquest (police) is to be done subsequent to which the body may be handed over to the approved institute or sent for post mortem examination as per findings of inquest [15].
Section: Doubt or dispute as to near relative to be referred to Magistrate of the First Class -Uniformly similar across all acts.
Section: Donation of bodies or any part thereof deceased persons for anatomical examination etc.
Of the available acts, acts of eight states namely TN,GA, HP, HR, PB, CH,MP and AS do not have any provision for donation of body[10, 13,14,16,17,18,20]. Acts of MH, KA, OD and MN clearly indicate the procedure to be followed in cases when the death of an interested donor occurs at home [5, 7, 9, 19].This includes provision of acceptance of death certificate stating the manner and cause of death as per his/her best knowledge by a registered medical practitioner who may or may not have attended the deceased person in last seven days. This registered medical practitioner however should not be concerned in dealing with body donation.
Section: Maintenance of records
Except for MH, DL and GJ no other state has included maintenance of record in their acts [5, 6, 15].Maharashtra Anatomy Act clearly lays down the manner in which the records have to be maintained, specifies the entries and duties of concerned authorities in a time bound manner [5].
Section: Refusal to accept unclaimed / donated body
Different states have different clauses with regards to the refusal to accept a donated /unclaimed body by the approved institute as shown in table V.
Section: Disposal of dead body
None of the acts have included the clause for the disposal of the dead body after its use except for three states i.e. MH, OD and GJ [5, 9, 15].While OD and GJ have mentioned the disposal in prescribed manner, Maharashtra act has dealt with this issue in detail prescribing the manner in which the said disposal should happen as per the religious persuasion of deceased [5, 9, 15].The authorized institute is required to transfer the information of disposal to the executive magistrate or any other officers as approved by state government within a stipulated time.
Section: Penalty
All the available acts include a provision for punishment of person who obstructs any process laid down in the act. This punishment varies in different acts and ranges from penalty of 200 [16,17, 20] to 5000 [15,19] and even with provision of imprisonment up to 6 months [9].
Section pertaining to Duty of Police and other officers to assist in obtaining possession of unclaimed bodies; Protection of persons acting under this Act and officers to be public servants-were similar across all acts.
Section: Act not to prohibit post-mortem examination
Following states namely MH, DL, KA, OD, KL, GJ, SK, UP, AS and MN have a clause stating that nothing in Anatomy Acts prohibits post mortem examination if there is suspicion regarding cause of death [5,6,7, 8, 9,15,19, 21,22]
Section: Power to make rules: All acts provide power to state government to make rules/amendment.
Section: Transfer and transport of cadavers and anatomical material amongst the authorized institute.
While no act has a section addressing transfer and transport of cadavers amongst the approved institute. Government of KA, by gazette notification, has framed the rules and regulation regarding the same in 2005 [27]. Any such notification by any other state government could not be obtained.
The suggestions and views of sixty six respondents received in response to questionnaire addressing various sections of Anatomy Acts are as follows (Table VI)