SC refuses to entertain man's plea for including doctor of his choice for daughter's postmortem

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain a plea of a man, whose 17-year-old daughter was found dead at a private residential school in Tamil Nadu, that a doctor of his choice is permitted to be part of a team of experts to conduct a fresh postmortem on her body.

The death of the class 12 girl on July 13 on the premises of the residential school sparked off violence in certain areas of Kallakurichi district in Tamil Nadu.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and P S Narsimha, however, granted liberty to the father to approach the high court and bring all the information to their notice. “Why should we doubt independent experts (to conduct post mortem)?” the bench said.

The apex court asked the petitioner to either withdraw or face the dismissal of the case. The matter was then dismissed as withdrawn.

On July 19, a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana had refused to agree to the plea of a man that a doctor of his choice is permitted to be part of a team of experts ordered by the Madras High Court to conduct a fresh postmortem on her body. The high court, while taking strong note of violent incidents, had directed the state police chief to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) to identify the rioters and take stern action against them.

It had also ordered a re-postmortem on the body of the girl. But a plea from the victim’s father to include a doctor of his choice to participate in the re-postmortem was turned down.