State Police Chief Anil Kant has issued guidelines for the conduct of nighttime autopsies to establish the cause of expiration in unnatural deaths.
Mr. Kant instructed State House Officers (SHO) to expedite the inquest, the preliminary inquiry to determine the cause of death and complete the procedure within four hours. They should transfer the body to the designated hospital for autopsy at the earliest.
The SHO should explain why the inquest took more time if it exceeded the four-hour limit. The officer should ensure that the crime scene is brightly lit for a foolproof inquest.
The Kerala Medico-Legal Code had till recently banned nighttime post-mortem examinations. In December last, the State government had permitted after-dark medico-legal examination at government medical college hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Thrissur, Kozhikode and one general hospital (Kasaragod).
However, a litigant challenged the order in the High Court, citing poor infrastructure at morgues and a lack of trained medico-legal experts and forensic doctors. He had also pointed out that most State-run morgues were in disrepair and poorly refrigerated.
Subsequently, the High Court ordered the government to ensure the best forensic pathology practices in the designated institutions by upgrading morgues and providing sufficient staff and modern infrastructure.
The court also observed that Article 21 of the Constitution ensured that people had dignity even in death. The State should ensure that the right is honoured. The administration could not condone the delay in an autopsy by citing a lack of staff, morgue space or other infrastructure. It must ensure that medico-legal formalities in unnatural death cases are completed in a jiffy. The State should not condemn citizens to wait interminably to mourn their dead because of an autopsy delay.
Subsequently, the HC ordered the chief secretary and the SPC to formulate guidelines and set the window of time during which forensic doctors could conduct post-mortem examinations after sunset.
