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DHAKA, Dec 6, 2025 (BSS) - The bodies of 114 unidentified martyrs of the July Uprising will be exhumed from Rayerbazar Graveyard in the capital starting Sunday for identification through post-mortem and DNA testing.

"We are preparing for exhumation bodies of July Martyrs buried in Rayerbazar Graveyard tomorrow following a Dhaka court order," Special Police Super of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Md Jasim Uddin Khan told BSS today. 

The exhumation process will begin tomorrow morning, and the recovered bodies will be reburied with proper respect after DNA samples and post-mortem examinations.

CID Chief Additional Inspector General of the CID Md. Sibgat Ullah will hold a briefing around 9:30am tomorrow at the graveyard, next to the Rayerbazar Memorial, before the exhumation begins. 

Forensic expert Louis Fondebrider and a team of forensic anthropologists will also be present during the process.

CID officials said tents and equipment have been set up at the cemetery by the department's crime scene unit to facilitate the exhumation.

The exhumation follows a court order by Dhaka's Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Mostafizur Rahman on August 4, acting on a police application filed by Sub-Inspector Mahidul Islam of Mohammadpur Police Station.

The court had ordered the authorities concerned to exhume 114 bodies of individuals killed during the July Uprising of 2024 in order to identify them.

During the anti-discrimination movement last year, 114 martyrs were buried as unrecognised individuals in the Rayerbazar cemetery in Mohammadpur.

"For the purpose of taking legal action in the future and identifying the bodies, it is necessary to exhume those through proper legal procedures, conduct post-mortem and collect DNA samples to confirm their identities," the police application said.

"Upon completion of legal proceedings and confirmation of identity through DNA profiling, it is also required to hand over the bodies to their respective families," it added.