HC orders second postmortem

The order has brought hope for for Monica and Manju,who have alleged that Maya’s ‘murder’ was projected as suicide. They had petitioned the court to order a second postmortem,as they had doubts about the authenticity of the previous postmortem conducted by a single doctor.

Justice Gupta has directed the hospital authorities to constitute a panel of doctors and conduct the second postmortem as per rules. Advocate Madhu P Singh,counsel for the petitioners,requested the court to direct the Administration to videograph the second postmortem. “The petitioners shall bear the expenses of videography. It is very essential that the postmortem is videographed,” Madhu P Singh contended. However,Justice R C Gupta held that the postmortem will be conducted as per “rules”. Advocate Singh further alleged that Maya had not committed suicide but was murdered and later hanged from the ceiling fan to project it as a suicide. “The noose of the dupatta was very loose. Moreover,her feet had been touching ground. She could not have committed suicide,” Madhu P Singh said.

On the other hand,counsel for the UT Administration opposed the demand of second postmortem. The counsel stated that since the first postmortem has been done and prima facie it appears to be a case of suicide,there is no requirement of a second postmortem. “What is the harm if a second postmortem is done? The only grudge of the petitioner is that a single doctor had performed the first postmortem,” Justice Gupta said.

Earlier,the petitioners had alleged that the Chandigarh police conducted the investigation of the case in a hasty manner in order to hush up the matter. Also,in a written complaint given to the Chandigarh Police on July 24,Manju had named Father Sebastian Gose of Don Bosco Navjeevan Church,Sector 24; his niece,Mercy Sebastian,and Mercy’s son,Anup,holding the trio responsible for the murder of Maya. Newsline was the first to report on August 4 that in a unique order the High Court had directed the GMSH-16 to preserve the body of the deceased till further orders.