Chennai: Expressing doubts over former chief minister J.Jayalalithaa’s death, Justice S.Vaidyanathan of the Madras high court on Thursday said if this case comes before his bench, he may even order the exhumation of her body for proper probe to unravel the truth.
The judge, part of the two-judge vacation bench, along with Justice V. Parthiban, made this observation while hearing a PIL filed by AIADMK member P.A. Joseph, seeking the appointment of a commission comprising three retired judges of the Supreme Court to probe the “mysterious death” of Jayalalithaa, just as the death of freedom fighter Subash Chandra Bose was probed by a commission on the direction of the Calcutta high court.
“Media has raised a lot of doubts, personally I also have doubts over the statements reported in the media when Jayalalithaa was taking treatment in the hospital,” said Justice Vaidyalingam.
When the case came up for hearing, senior counsel K.M. Vijayan, appearing for the petitioner, referred to the case of freedom fighter Subash Chandra Bose while seeking a similar probe into Jayalalithaa’s death. Upon this, Justice Vaidyanathan asked advocate general R. Muthukumarasamy what he thought of Mr Vijayan’s petition. The AG said there was no mystery to Jayalalithaa’s death and pointed out that a similar petition had already been dismissed by the high court.
Justice Vaidyanathan said, “Right to life is a fundamental right. We do not want to go into the issues regarding treatment. Public should know about the same. After the demise, when there is suspicion, anybody can come and question,” and added, “I also personally have doubt over the things that came out... We saw in newspapers that the chief minister was recovering, and that she was eating, signing papers and even conducting meetings and also that she could be discharged. And then suddenly she was dead. No revenue division officer saw the body, neither were there any medical records furnished.
The court posted the matter for January 9, 2017, while observing that “the petition has to be heard at length.”
