TN Govt to Madras HC: Permit us to hand over victims' bodies

Chennai: The state government has approached Madras high court to modify its order by permitting the authorities to hand over the bodies of persons killed during anti-Sterlite agitation to their relatives after post-mortem.
 
A division bench comprising Justices T. Ravindran and P. Velmurugan before whom the petition filed by the home secretary, DGP, Thoothukudi district collector and superintendent of police, Thoothukudi, came up for hearing, adjourned it to May 30.

 The bench had on May 23 passed an interim order, directing the authorities to preserve the bodies of 11 persons killed in police firing during the anti-Sterlite agitation on May 22, until further orders.

 In his petition filed on behalf of Home Secretary, DGP, District Collector, Thoothukudi and Superintendent of Police, Thoothukudi, M.Murugan, Strictly Confidential Joint Secretary to Government, Home (SC) department submitted that team of experienced and competent government doctors have already conducted and completed the post mortem of two bodies in the presence of the Judicial Magistrates of four districts and the panchayathars. This was done to avoid any possible complaint from any quarter and the state government was ensuring that all procedures were being followed in this regard, he added.

 He said the post mortem was being conducted in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in the presence of the necessary authorities and by competent doctors. Forensic experts have opined that the post mortem should be done as quickly as possible to prevent decomposition of body leading to its impact on the post mortem.

 Also, there will be rapid decomposition while preserving a body with injuries even in cold storage. Hence no purpose will be served by such preservation. He said when the government and all concerned were earnestly working to bring the situation back to normal, keeping the bodies of the unfortunate victims without disposal, itself may become a focal point of unnecessary unrest. Further, the relatives of two deceased persons on whom post mortem has been completed were insisting on the bodies to be handed over to them and have also issued consent letters in this regard. In light of these circumstances, the bodies can be handed over to the relatives. If the bodies were embalmed and kept under preservation with the authorities, there was every possibility of the public, gate crashing into the hospital and creating law and order problems. It was also likely to cause not only inconvenience but also affect the course of treatment given to the inpatients of the hospitals. The government was taking all necessary step
s in accordance with law and to ensure restoration of peace and order and normal life in the areas at the earliest and retaining the bodies can cause problems and hinder in the process of earliest restoration of public peace and order, he added.