CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday refused to order re-postmortem of history-sheeter Shankar who was killed by the police in an encounter near Ayanavaram. However, the court directed the CB-CID to complete the investigation and file a final report within 12 weeks.
Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan passed the orders after accepting arguments from State Public Prosecutor (SPP) A Natarajan, who said that the re-postmortem was conducted as per guidelines by the National Human Rights Commission, in presence of two qualified doctors and the Fifth Metropolitan Magistrate, Egmore.
The State contended that the postmortem was video-graphed and was conducted as per rules. The SPP also informed that Shankar had 53 criminal cases, including murder cases, pending against him and was detained under the Goondas Act.
According to the petitioner, S Govindammal, her son Shankar was allegedly murdered by the police while in custody on August 21. She stated: “Torturing the accused and killing him is the worst form of human rights violation, and so, to secure the ends of justice, it is just and necessary to order a re-postmortem.”
She further alleged that the Fifth Metropolitan Magistrate showed no interest in unearthing the truth.
The SPP submitted that the case for investigation had already been transferred to the CB-CID on the orders passed by the DGP. Earlier, the counsel for the petitioner sought for the postmortem report to be sought from the Magistrate. The court also directed for it and was submitted by the magistrate.
‘Human rights violation’
According to the petitioner, S Govindammal, her son Shankar was allegedly murdered by the police while in custody on August 21. She stated: “Torturing the accused and killing him is the worst form of human rights violation, and so, to secure the ends of justice, it is just and necessary to order a re-postmortem.” She further alleged that the Fifth Metropolitan Magistrate showed no interest in unearthing the truth. The SPP submitted that the case for investigation had already been transferred to the CB-CID