Families of cloudburst victims demand closure, DNA report updates

Jammu, Jan 21: Five months on and the families of around 40 persons, who went missing in cloudburst tragedy that struck the Chisoti village in Padder enroute Machail Mata pilgrimage on August 14, 2025, are still seeking closure for their kin.

On Wednesday, around a dozen families of 38 persons missing in the tragedy, carrying the photographs of the victims, held a silent protest demonstration outside Press Club Jammu against what they termed as “contemptible administrative apathy towards the kin of persons, who still remained untraced.”

“We are here to make our voice audible for justice. We want nothing but a final closure for our kin, who remained untraceable even five months after the tragedy. For us, it is a kind of double whammy. We lost the members of our family in the tragedy yet even five months after the tragedy, the administration was not able to acknowledge or clarify their (missing persons’) status. We are not asking for compensation. At least they (administration) should come clear on DNA samples submitted by us. If not able to trace our kin, at least they can acknowledge deaths and issue death certificates so that we can perform their last rites as per our traditions,” they shared their anguish. Few among them claimed that they even submitted affidavits with the office of Sub Divisional Magistrate seeking death certificates but did not get any response so far.

Surinder Kumar from Jalandhar Punjab, was one among those distraught parents.

“I was the first one to give my DNA samples as my daughter, who along with her friend and her family had come to perform pilgrimage, went missing in the tragedy. Both my daughter and her friend still remained untraceable. I remained stationed here for five days to give my DNA samples after some unidentified bodies and parts were recovered six or seven days after the tragedy. Thereafter I spent a month in Jammu with a hope of closure – good or bad. We don’t have any clues as to what happened to our DNA samples. None from the administration ever bothered to contact us or listen to us. The concerned authorities remain inaccessible. You can well imagine our plight,” he lamented.

According to him, days after the tragedy, when three bodies were recovered, he claimed one of the bodies. “But I was not allowed to take it on the pretext that it would be handed over only after the DNA report, that never came and our wait remained unending,” Surinder Kumar, visibly shaken, shared with the media persons.

Ramesh Kumar, who hailed from Resham Ghar, Jammu, lost eight members of his family in the tragedy. Out of them, only one body was recovered while seven – four children and three women, including two sisters remained missing.

“My mother and father had given their DNA samples. I remained shuttling from Chisoti to GMC in search of our kin. The DNA report came but nothing came out of it. At least the authorities should issue us death certificates of our kin,” he said.

Another parent, whose daughter and her friend Disha Bhagat also remained untraceable following the tragedy, rued that on September 8, DNA sample was given at Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu but the families did not hear anything thereafter from the administration.

GMC Jammu officials stated that the body parts, which the hospital had received, were despatched to the authorised Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for identification. “After it, the follow-up is done by the district authorities,” they added.