Maintaining that it has no jurisdiction to order autopsy on the bodies of six persons who were killed in a shootout in Seshachalam hills of Andhra Pradesh, the Madras High Court adjourned the proceedings as sought by the petitioner to enable her to approach the court with jurisdiction.
Posting the matter for April 17, Justice M. Sathyanarayanan ordered that the six bodies be preserved in the Government Hospital at Tiruvannamalai till then.
In her petition, Muniammal, wife of Sasikumar of Vettagiripalayam, had sought for a direction to conduct a fresh autopsy on her husband’s body and further direct authorities to pay adequate compensation to protect her family’s livelihood. She also wanted the autopsy examination to be videographed.
When the case came up for hearing on Friday, counsel for the petitioner K. Balu citing Supreme Court judgments, submitted that the court had ample powers to order a fresh autopsy. The judge asked how the court can direct for a fresh autopsy when there was no FIR was filed by the State police on the issue.
When counsel said it was a matter of human rights, the judge asked if that was so, why the petition sought for a fresh autopsy only for six bodies and not for the rest of the bodies. He said the kin of the remaining bodies could not be reached.
Advocate General A.L. Somayaji reiterated the government’s stand that it did not have any objection to conduct a fresh autopsy if the court gave a direction and further submitted that a PIL by Chilka Chandra Sekar had been filed High Court in Hyderabad in connection with the issue, which was to come up for hearing on Friday.
The judge observed that the court had already indicated its position on Thursday.
