Karnataka - Hubli-Dharwad   

Light law delays post-mortem

DHARWAD: Should post-mortem be conducted only “in broad daylight” or can it be done even at night when sufficient light is available? This was the issue that delayed the post-mortem of a former bank employee who was found dead at Malamaddi in Dharwad on Thursday and led to a heated argument between relatives of the dead, a police officer and doctors on duty.

According to the police, Suresh Parvatikar (55), a former employee of the State Bank of India, was found dead next to a compound wall near his residence in Malamaddi on Thursday afternoon.

Mr. Parvatikar who had gone to his relative’s house in Hubli on Wednesday was supposed to return that night. Anxious family members who started searching for him found him dead on Thursday.

The Vidyagiri police, who registered a case of suspicious death, took the body to the District (Civil) Hospital for post-mortem around 3.30 p.m.

According to Ravi Kulkarni, Mr. Parvatikar’s relative, the police submitted a requisition for post-mortem around 4.30 p.m. But doctors on duty refused to conduct the post-mortem saying that it was too late. They said that they would conduct the post-mortem the next day, Mr. Kulkarni said. The relatives requested the doctors to conduct the post-mortem on Thursday itself. But their request went in vain. This led to an argument between the relatives and the doctors, Mr. Kulkarni said.

When contacted, District Surgeon Geeta Nyamagoudar said that the requisition was given too late. And moreover, as the case was registered under Section 174 C of the Cr.PC, it was required that the post-mortem should be conducted “in broad daylight”, the District Surgeon said.

Meanwhile, following an oral complaint by the doctors, Police Commissioner N. Shivakumar sent Assistant Commissioner of Police Ugargol to the hospital.

Following the official’s intervention, the doctors agreed to conduct the post-mortem around 7.30 p.m. As there was no power supply, a generator had to be switched on.

Mr. Shivakumar told The Hindu that the rule that post-mortems should be conducted in broad daylight in case of suspicious death had been modified by the Government, and post-mortems could be conducted even at night when “sufficient light is available”.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Protests
Light law delays post-mortem
‘KSRTC management exploiting employees’
Keep abreast of developments, teachers told
Marathon
MLC, supporters block highway

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu