An oral plea made by the father of the student who died by suicide in Kallakurichi in Tamil Nadu to stay the re-postmortem of the body, which is to be held on Tuesday as per the directions of the Madras High Court, was rejected by the Supreme Court today.
The Supreme Court was approached by the father of the student, who committed suicide in Kallakurichi, for including a doctor of his choice for the re-post-mortem in the panel constituted by the High Court for the girl’s body.
The High Court had earlier rejected the prayer. The matter was mentioned by Advocate Rahul Shyam Bhandari before Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana for urgent listing, which was agreed to by the CJI.
The Counsel submitted that the re-postmortem was to be held today and sought a stay on the same.
CJI Ramana said “Sorry, the High Court is already seized of the matter.”
The CJI was informed by the counsel appearing for the State of Tamil Nadu that’s the team of doctors has been constituted by the High Court for the post-mortem.
The CJI questioned the petitioner’s counsel if they have no trust on the High Court. The Counsel, however, pressed for at least an oral direction to the state to put off the re-postmortem, which was refused outright by the CJI.
The High Court had rejected the petitioner’s prayer for including doctors of his choice in the panel by saying that there was valid reason for the same and also that this was not as per the petition.
The court said it had all sympathy for the parents who lost their child unnaturally. Taking an overall view of the situation in which violence erupted and was executed, this Court is of the view that inclusion of the doctor of the choice of the petitioner may not be necessary at this stage, it added.
This Court has taken due care while selecting the right panel of doctors thorough verification. Well-known expert Santhakumar is also included as part of panel.
The High Court also transferred the investigation of the case to the CB-CID. The suicide of the girl in boarding school has led to violent protests in Kallakurichi. Locals had vandalized the school premises and burned schoolbuses and tractors.