Custodial Death: Allahabad High Court directs second post-mortem of body of 22-year-old
The Allahabad High Court directed a second post-mortem of the body of the 22-year-old.
Background
The case is one of the custodial deaths. It is alleged in the petition that the son of the petitioner died in the police station while in police custody.
The writ petition seeked two reliefs; to issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus thereby directing the Central Bureau of Investigation to take over the investigation in Case lodged at P.S. Kasganj, U.P. and to proceed against all the concerned police officers and such other persons found to be involved ; or to issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus thereby directing the constitution of a Court Monitored by Special Investigation Team (SIT) to take over the investigation in Case lodged at P.S. Kasganj, U.P. and to proceed against all the concerned police officers and such other persons found to be involved.
Decision
The division bench of Justice Anjani Kumar Mishra and Justice Deepak Verma said that a direction has been sought for transferring the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation, no order is required to be passed in this regard as it is admitted to counsel for the parties that a Judicial inquiry as also a ministerial inquiry in the matter is pending consideration.
The court directed the Magistrate concerned holding the ministerial inquiry to proceed with it expeditiously and to bring it to its conclusion expeditiously preferably within a period of four weeks.
The court further directed that the body of the deceased, Altaf to be exhumed forthwith in the presence of Senior Superintendent of Police / Superintendent of Police, Kasganj. The body after it has been exhumed shall be sealed and immediately transported to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, where a post-mortem examination of the exhumed body shall be conducted in presence of a team of Doctors to be constituted by the Director of All India Medical Sciences, Delhi.
The court added that the entire process of unsealing and postmortem and the subsequent sealing if any of the body, shall be videographed. High resolution still photographs of the body at various stages of the examination shall also be taken and preserved. The post-mortem report, the video footage and photograph shall be prepared in three copies.
The court ordered that the entire exercise should be completed within a period of 10 days.
Case title: Chand Miyan v/s State of UP and 5 Ors.
Citation: CRIMINAL MISC. WRIT PETITION No. – 12441 of 2021
