Death of Indian diplomat in Ramallah: Conduct post mortem at AIIMS, says HC

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Thursday allowed a plea by the mother of deceased India’s Representative to Palestine Mukul Arya seeking a fresh post mortem of her son who was recently found dead inside the Indian mission in Ramallah and directed that the process be video-graphed. The Centre told Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is facilitating the autopsy at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) as desired by the family.

Lawyer Anurag Ahluwalia, representing Centre, said “more than the petitioner, we are concerned” and the authorities were thus not opposing the plea seeking another post-mortem and that there was no “foul play” in the death. Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for Mukul Arya’s mother Roshan Lata Arya, empathized that the deceased officer suffered an unnatural death and urged the court to allow either the family members or their representatives to be present during the autopsy procedure.

Justice Bhatnagar said he would permit the autopsy to be carried out as per the norms and be video-recorded. “He is an Indian official. Everyone is concerned,” the judge told the petitioner. The senior counsel for the petitioner stated that at this stage, he was not pressing the other prayer seeking the constitution of a commission to inquire into “the suspicious circumstances under which the deceased died”. “Prayer 1 (seeking autopsy) is allowed. Post mortem be video-graphed and made part of the record,” the court ordered.

In the petition filed through lawyer Nitin Saluja, the 65-year-old petitioner sought a direction to the central government to immediately constitute a panel of doctors from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for conducting a fresh post mortem on her deceased son in the presence of the family.

On March 7, the authorities in Palestine had issued a Declaration of Death/Post Mortem Report citing the cause of death as “Myocardial Infarction”, the plea informed. The petition stated that the deceased was a fitness enthusiast and as per the knowledge of the family, there was no blockage in his arteries and thus it is “unfathomable how the deceased could have suffered a heart attack/ Myocardial Infraction, allegedly leading to his death”.

The petition said that as per the driver of the deceased, he was “found unconscious in his room” on March 6 and “was covered under a blanket with his body swollen, and his clothes, face, and blanket being covered in vomit”.

It added that before the family could even reach Ramallah, the room had been cleaned up and all the evidence had been destroyed and the family’s representations to the government agencies disputing the declaration of death dated March 7 and alleging foul play in the death have not been answered. The petition stated that the family has not received any official communication from the central government or from other authorities intimating them of their son’s death and these omissions and inactions “raise multiple questions and give rise to suspicion”.

“The entire nation is expressing grave and serious doubts over the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of late Mr. Mukul Arya. That social media is flooded with citizens expressing how the death of Late Mr. Mukul Marya is shrouded with suspicion and is demanding an independent inquiry into the said matter. Thus, it is only appropriate that a second autopsy of deceased is conducted by a team of reputed doctors at AIIMS, Delhi, and an Independent Judicial enquiry is conducted to on the actual cause death of the deceased,” the petition said.

Arya, 37, was a career diplomat who served at the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi, in addition to serving at the Permanent Delegation of India to UNESCO in Paris and at the Embassies of India in Kabul and Moscow.

He was raised and educated in Delhi, studied Economics at Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, before joining the Indian Foreign Service in 2008, according to the website of the Representative Office of India in Ramallah, Palestine.