Madras High Court orders exhumation of deceased after wife alleges custodial torture

A month after a 44-year-old man died following alleged custodial torture at the Villupuram taluk police station in Tamil Nadu, the Madras High Court has directed that the deceased’s body be exhumed and a re-postmortem be conducted..In an order passed on May 17, a vacation bench presided over by Justice R Sakthivel directed the Villupuram Collector to exhume the body of the deceased, K Raja, suspected to have died due to custodial torture on April 10.The Court said that the suspicion raised by Raja’s family that he died of custodial torture was “reasonable” and could not be “brushed aside easily.”.It, therefore, directed the Director of Medical Education (DME) to make arrangements for performing a re-postmortem on the body.“For the same reason, the enquiry contemplated under Section 176 of CrPC is also essential to clear the clouds and unearth the truth. It would not cause any prejudice to the respondents. As a matter of fact, if re-postmortem is conducted and the result negatives the contention of the petitioner, it would enhance the reputation of the police among the public,” the Court said..Justice Sakthivel passed the order on a petition filed by R Anju, the wife of the deceased.The petitioner’s counsel and human rights activist Henri Tiphagne told the court Raja had been illegally detained on the suspicion of illegal sale of TASMAC liquor and tortured by the police on April 10.After his health deteriorated, the police sent him home hurriedly and asked him to take medical treatment. Raja told his family he had been brutally beaten up by the police. Some hours later, he collapsed and was declared dead by the local hospital where he had been rushed to by his family, Tiphagne told the Court..The Court noted the submissions and said that an inquiry was “essential to unearth the truth.”“This Court finds the contention of the petitioner plausible,” the Court said..Advocates Henri Tiphagne and SK Venkat Raman appeared for the petitioner.Government Advocate S Udayakumar appeared for the police and State government..[Read Order]