MADURAI: The Madurai Bench directed the State Health Department to videograph all postmortems conducted in all the government hospitals across the State and to maintain records of those videos.
Passing interim orders on a PIL filed by an advocate from Madurai RM Arun Swaminathan, a division bench took serious note on the submission by the petitioner that postmortem reports are being filed in ‘cut and paste’ method, raising question whether the postmortem was really done.
The judges directed the Principal Secretary of Health, Director of Medical Education, Director of Rural Health to videograph all the autopsies conducted in government hospitals and maintain their records. Further, the judges also impleaded the Dean of Madurai Rajaji Hospital after it was submitted that nearly 700 postmortem certificates have been kept pending.
The petitioner submitted that the autopsies were being conducted without following rules prescribed under the Tamil Nadu Medical Code and the reports were merely signed by the medical officers without visiting the postmortem tables.
Police commissioner asked to file report on custodial death plaint
The High Court Bench here directed the Madurai Commissioner of Police to inquire and file report on a custodial death complaint. The complainant, M Jeya, a flower vendor from Kochadai, had sought action against S S Colony police on charges that her 17-year-old son died due to torture under their custody. The deceased, Muthu Karthick, was taken to custody on January 13 for inquiring about a burglary. He was later admitted at Government Rajaji Hospital on January 18. However, he died on January 24.