HC orders autopsy on body of man who self-immolated

Madurai: Madras high court on Thursday directed the dean of Govt Rajaji Hospital (GRH) to conduct postmortem on the body of a man who died due to self-immolation in front of Subramaniyapuram police station in Madurai over an alleged civil dispute with his brother.Petitoner Bhuvaneshwari, wife of the deceased P Narayanan, said there was a civil dispute between her husband and his brother Sivamarkandan, a DMK functionary. She said Sivamarkandan and his family members came to their house, and assaulted her husband, causing injuries. Though he tried to lodge a complaint, Subramaniyapuram police allegedly demanded bribe for registering a case, which her husband refused to give. Police started to harass her family, which drove her husband to suicide by self-immolation on March 26. He died in GRH two days later.She said that in his dying declaration, her husband cited harassment by Sivamarkandan's family and conduct of police as reasons for taking the extreme step. Hence, she moved court seeking a CBI or CB-CID or SIT probe into her husband's death. The petitioner also sought a direction to videograph the postmortem and to pay compensation to the family.The state submitted that a case and countercase were registered in connection with the dispute. Aggrieved, the petitioner's husband poured kerosene on himself on the police station premises. A constable rushed to him, and tried to secure him, but he also suffered burn injuries. The police acted in accordance with law.Justice B Pugalendhi observed that though the petitioner's husband died on Mar 28, postmortem has not been conducted till date, in view of the objections raised by the petitioner. In order to ensure that a fair investigation is conducted and the apprehension of the petitioner is addressed, the judge directed GRH dean to nominate two doctors to conduct the postmortem as expeditiously as possible, preferably Thursday. The entire postmortem shall be videographed. The doctors have to find out whether there was any missing tooth and any other injuries on the deceased, while conducting the postmortem. The postmortem certificate shall be placed before the court. The judge also directed the police to produce the files pertaining to the case and countercase.Earlier, the court directed the petitioner to file an affidavit that on ensuring a proper postmortem, she would receive and cremate the body, which she agreed. The court posted the case for further hearing on April 15.