NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has ex[pressed serious concern over the increasing incidents of divergent postmortem reports in custody deaths or deaths under suspicious circumstances.

The commission recently convened a meeting of top medical experts to discuss the issue of law enforcing agencies resorting to a second postmortem in cases of unnatural deaths. ‘This issue was discussed threadbare and suggestions were made to ensure that the first postmortem report was as foolproof as possible.

‘Some of the members of the commission suggested to the experts, from the Medical Council of India (MCI) that it should be probed whether the postmortem was “actually and properly” done, whether there was delay in conducting the postmortem and the possibility of manipulation to suit vested interests,” sources said. When contacted. MCI sources said that they would be presenting a report to the NHRC soon on the present position of postmortem examination the country and suggestions regarding action to be taken on a short terms well as long term perspective.

Taking cognizance of two recent cases in Tamil Nadu where the reports of the deaths of two scheduled caste women and a nurse were altered from suicides to suspicious death and homicide on the basis of second postmortem, the NHRC decided to take up this issue for serious consideration, the sources said.

In the case of two scheduled caste women, Govindammal and Boopathy, in Puduchathiram village of Salem district in Tamil Nadu the last postmortem had said asphyxia due to drowning and the second postmortem findings altered the report from suicide to suspicious death and subsequently to murder.

And in the alleged murder of a nurse of primary health center at Magudanchavadi in the same district, there were two postmortems with the first doctor stating that it was suicide and the second terming it as homicide. Even in the recent sensational Tandoor murder case in the Capital two postmortems were carried out on the charred and chopped body of Naina Sahni giving altogether different findings.

In a number of incidents especially pertaining to custodial deaths, postmortem reports were “doctored” to suit police interest and there was also inordinate delay in submitting them, the sources said.

No complaint about postmortem cases had come to the notice of the MCI so far for the purpose of initiating action against errant doctors. It had no control over states as doctors in the states were governed by Acts prevalent in those states, the sources said.

 

Article extracted from this publication >>  August 18, 1995