KOZHIKODE: The Koodathayi case has once again brought to the fore the discussion on society’s aversion towards conducting an autopsy. Of the six murders, postmortem was conducted on just one body at Koodathayi and that revealed the presence of cyanide. If postmortem had been done on other bodies and toxin was detected, that would have come in handy for the police.
Mostly, family honour and religious beliefs come in the way of postmortem. Unnatural death and death which does not fall either in ‘natural death’ or ‘unnatural death’ categories are normally recommended for postmortem. A police consent is indispensable for the doctor to conduct an autopsy as per section 174 of CrPC and a difference of opinion between them triggers a controversy.
“The stigma is more in rural areas. Relatives and local representatives of political parties beg the doctor to do away with an autopsy. I have never succumbed to such pressure. It is high time we gave a complete nod to autopsy if there was even an iota of doubt in death,” said Dr Sherly Vasu, retired forensic surgeon.
Police-doctor slugfest
Forensic surgeons say that there is a communication gap between them and police on the issue and it should be sorted out. “At times, police give us a No-Objection Certificate hinting that there is no doubt over the death hence the body should be released. We have hardly anything to do in such circumstances,” said Dr Vimal Vijay, forensic surgeon at Kottayam General Hospital.
State secretary of Kerala Medico-Legal Society Dr Hitesh Shankar T S also said that there were cases where doctors had to succumb to police pressure in releasing the body without autopsy. “Such cases occur in health department, but the police cannot play that game in the Medical College Hospital. Also, the procedure of preparing the inquest report of a body should be error-free,” he said.
Religious beliefs
There are people who say no to postmortem citing religious beliefs. “There are people who argue that a fly sitting on the dead boy itself is against the faith,” said Vasu. Doctors also say that there are cases of unnatural death in rural areas wherein even the body is not being brought to hospital. “There is the law and it should be obeyed. But the slugfest between law enforcers and doctors and societal pressure are usually seen in rural areas,” said K Prasannan, head of department, Forensic Medicine, Kozhikode Medical College.