Convicted professor contests autopsy report in court

BHOPAL/JABALPUR: A 60-year-old professor, sentenced to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment for killing her husband, has challenged the post-mortem examination report saying that as a chemistry professor, she knows what impact electrocution has on human body.

The convict, Mamta Pathak of Chhatarpur town, is arguing her case before a division bench comprising Justice Vivek Agarwal and Justice Devnarayan Mishra. Videos and reels of her argument are being shared widely on social media. She is seen trying to drive home her contention that it is not possible to differentiate between 'electric and thermal burn marks' in the autopsy room, and this can be done only through chemical analysis in a lab.

One of the judges asks her if she is a professor of chemistry; she nods and says, "Yes." Justice Agarwal asks her why her counsel did not ask the question of the doctor who had conducted the post-mortem examination during cross-examination in the trial court. She says, "I was in jail then."

Justice Agarwal, however, points out her error when she mixes up nitric acid and hydrochloric acid.

According to the prosecution, Mamta's husband, Dr Neeraj Pathak (63), was found dead in his house in Chhatarpur on April 29, 2021. Electric burn marks were detected at five places on his body.

Mamta, who teaches chemistry in a Chhatarpur college, lived separately from her husband but had returned to him a few months before his death. Although the couple had started living together again, they often fought over her suspicion that Neeraj had had an affair, the prosecution said.

On the day of the incident, Neeraj called up a relative and told him that Mamta had been "torturing" him for two-three days; that she had not given him food and kept him locked in the bathroom.

The court heard her argument on Apr 28 and has reserved its judgment. It, however, suspended the sentence till it decides her appeal.


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