Villupuram suicide: Madras High Court declines to order second autopsy

Chennai: The Madras high court on Tuesday declined to order a second autopsy on the body of Saranya found in a well in Villupuram district on January 23.

She was one of the three students of SVS Medical College of Yoga and Naturopathy whose bodies were found in the well.

“The body of Saranya was buried on January 24 and the petition for re-postmortem filed on February 3. It had been nine days since the burial. Only after conducting postmortem, the body of Saranya was buried.

The body was in a decomposed state and it is not viable for conducting re-postmortem to find out whether there is any contusion on the body.

Furthermore, internal organs are dilated once it is buried. So no purpose will be served in ordering re-postmortem”, said Justice R. Mala while dismissing the petitions from Elumalai, father of Saranya, for exhuming her body and passing order for re-postmortem.

The judge said the reason assigned by R. Sankarasubbu, counsel for the petitioner, was that since the doctors had not performed the postmortem of Saranya in a proper manner, they were unable to give reason for the cause of death.

But, this argument does not hold good. If any person dies, under suspicious circumstances, after autopsy internal organs will be collected and sent to forensic science department to obtain viscera report to ascertain whether any poisonous substance is found. Only then they are able to give the cause of death and final opinion. “Merely because the cause of death is not given in the first postmortem certificate, it is not a reason for passing an order for conducting re-postmortem”, the judge added.

The judge said the counsel for the petitioner submitted that after 15 days, it was possible to find out contusion. However, parents of Saranya, without making any objection, buried her body.

After re-postmortem of Monisha only, the petitioner came forward with the petitions, which shows the intention of the petitioner to drag on the investigation.

“The first postmortem was conducted by a team of government doctors and the same was properly video-graphed. A portion of internal organs has been collected, which was sent for forensic science department for detection. In such circumstances, I am of the view that the petitioner has not disclosed any defects in performing autopsy, not warranted re-postmortem”, the judge added.