Madras High Court orders autopsy of six remaining victims of Thoothukudi police firing

Says it can not be oblivious to the agony of relatives waiting for the bodies.

CHENNAI: The first bench of the Madras High Court has ordered post-mortem on the remaining six bodies of those who were shot dead at Thoothukudi during the protests against Sterlite factory on May 22 and 23. The court cannot be oblivious to the agony of the kith and kin of the deceased waiting for release of the bodies of their near and dear killed in the police firing, the bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice P T Asha said and held that the post-mortem should be carried out at the earliest and the bodies released to the family members.

All formalities with regard to identification of the deceased victims and/or their family members may be followed, the bench added and hoped that the relatives of the victims will cooperate along with necessary identification documents, if required. The bench was passing further interim orders on a batch of petitions from close relatives of the shooting victims, on Tuesday.

Referring to the submission of the petitioners that a proper postmortem would indicate the type of weapon which caused the death, the Bench said that it is doubtful whether a postmortem can conclusively determine the type of weapon/bullet which caused the death. For this, examination of the bullets by experts would be necessary. The earlier order dated May 30 of the Bench mandated preservation and examination of inter-alia bullets and fragments thereof. To ascertain the kind of weapon which caused the death, technical opinion of experts dealing with arms and weapons would be necessary, rather than of doctors, as observed in the earlier order passed, the Bench said.

The Bench also pointed out that re-postmortem on the seven bodies had been carried out in terms of the May 30 order of the division bench. Hence, there is no reason to pass any different order now for the postmortem on the six bodies, as prayed for on behalf of the petitioners. Petitioners had prayed for a directive that post-mortem be carried out only by seniormost doctors of Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram. “There should, in our view, be uniformity in investigation of the same incident, of which postmortem is a part,” the bench added.

Post-mortem as per the earlier order by inclusion of doctors of specified medical institutions may cause some delay. Therefore, it is for the immediate family members of the deceased to take a call. If the immediate family members (parents, wife or adult children of any deceased victim) make a written request, postmortem may be carried out in accordance with the directions contained in the May 30 order. If not, postmortem may be carried out by medical experts who would ordinarily have carried out the same.
 However, all the other safeguards specified in the May 30 order such as videographing, taking photographs, preservation and expert examination of bullets, etc., shall be adhered to, the Bench added and posted the matter for June 25 for filing counters and rejoinders.

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