Plea to permit post-mortem at night junked by High Court
CHENNAI, MAY 05, 2019 00:00 IST
Accepts expert opinion that bruises might escape notice under artificial light
The Madras High Court has refused to interfere with a decision taken by the State government to stop the practice of conducting post-mortems during night hours even in motor accident cases due to difficulties faced by forensic experts in making accurate observations in the absence of sunlight.
Justices S. Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad imposed costs of Rs. 10,000 on a public interest litigation petitioner V. Eswaran for challenging the government’s decision. The judges said the case had been filed with bald averments without ascertaining the real reason behind avoiding autopsy during night hours.
According to the petitioner, a Government Order issued on June 13, 1996 permitted conduct of post-mortem during night hours in respect of motor accident cases alone. Such permission had been granted considering the anxiety that may prevail among relatives to take the body at the earliest for performing final rites.
However, the permission was withdrawn by another GO on May 2, 2013 and the decision was taken on the flimsy reason of non-availability of sunlight, the petitioner contended.
Taking it with a pinch of salt, the judges called for government records after warning the petitioner that costs will be imposed on him if his claim was found to be wrong. The records revealed that the decision to stop conduct of autopsy during night hours was taken on the basis of recommendations of an eight-member expert committee constituted in 2010 under the chairmanship of the then Director of Medical Education. It stated that most often than not relatives end up identifying wrong bodies even during day time and therefore the chances of such wrong identification was bound to increase during night hours. Apart from this, police might find it difficult to attend to law and order problems caused during night hours and autopsy might also get interrupted in case of power failures, the experts felt.
The most crucial point highlighted by the committee was that the forensic experts had to note down even contusions, bruises and colour of the wounds to find out the cause of death as well as the time of death. Since the complexion of Tamilians was a mixture of “medium and dark,” it would be difficult to spot minor bruises under artificial light, it said.
“Under artificial light, the colour of the skin, in cases of dark or medium complexioned individuals, would mask the colour of the bruise and may escape detection even by the trained eye despite careful examination,” read a report submitted by the Director of Medical Education to the Health Secretary on August 28, 2010. The report concluded that conduct of post-mortem was not a ritual. It would have grave impact on the trial of criminal cases and therefore it was absolutely necessary to conduct it generally in daylight, except emergent situations, to avoid faulty observations which may derail a police probe and lead to miscarriage of justice.
CHENNAI, MAY 05, 2019 00:00 IST
Accepts expert opinion that bruises might escape notice under artificial light
The Madras High Court has refused to interfere with a decision taken by the State government to stop the practice of conducting post-mortems during night hours even in motor accident cases due to difficulties faced by forensic experts in making accurate observations in the absence of sunlight.
Justices S. Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad imposed costs of Rs. 10,000 on a public interest litigation petitioner V. Eswaran for challenging the government’s decision. The judges said the case had been filed with bald averments without ascertaining the real reason behind avoiding autopsy during night hours.
According to the petitioner, a Government Order issued on June 13, 1996 permitted conduct of post-mortem during night hours in respect of motor accident cases alone. Such permission had been granted considering the anxiety that may prevail among relatives to take the body at the earliest for performing final rites.
However, the permission was withdrawn by another GO on May 2, 2013 and the decision was taken on the flimsy reason of non-availability of sunlight, the petitioner contended.
Taking it with a pinch of salt, the judges called for government records after warning the petitioner that costs will be imposed on him if his claim was found to be wrong. The records revealed that the decision to stop conduct of autopsy during night hours was taken on the basis of recommendations of an eight-member expert committee constituted in 2010 under the chairmanship of the then Director of Medical Education. It stated that most often than not relatives end up identifying wrong bodies even during day time and therefore the chances of such wrong identification was bound to increase during night hours. Apart from this, police might find it difficult to attend to law and order problems caused during night hours and autopsy might also get interrupted in case of power failures, the experts felt.
The most crucial point highlighted by the committee was that the forensic experts had to note down even contusions, bruises and colour of the wounds to find out the cause of death as well as the time of death. Since the complexion of Tamilians was a mixture of “medium and dark,” it would be difficult to spot minor bruises under artificial light, it said.
“Under artificial light, the colour of the skin, in cases of dark or medium complexioned individuals, would mask the colour of the bruise and may escape detection even by the trained eye despite careful examination,” read a report submitted by the Director of Medical Education to the Health Secretary on August 28, 2010. The report concluded that conduct of post-mortem was not a ritual. It would have grave impact on the trial of criminal cases and therefore it was absolutely necessary to conduct it generally in daylight, except emergent situations, to avoid faulty observations which may derail a police probe and lead to miscarriage of justice.
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