All Autopsies have to be Videographed: Court Orders All Government Hospitals

The petitioner alleged that no post mortems were done and certificates were simply signed without even the conduct of actual post mortem. Only the name, age and the police station name were changed on pre-drafted certificates and dispatched.

Tamil Nadu: The Madras High Court bench here Tuesday directed the government hospitals in Tamil Nadu to ensure the presence of senior forensic experts during post-mortems, and videograph the procedure.

Justices N Kirubakaran and S S Sundar gave the directive while hearing public interest litigation (PIL) of Aravind Swaminathan who alleged various lapses, including mentioning of wrong names and addresses in the post-mortem reports.

The petitioner claimed that over 700 post-mortem reports had not been signed by the doctor concerned. Further, he alleged that a copy-paste system was followed while it came to the preparation of the reports and issuing certificates.

The certificates were simply signed without even the conduct of actual post mortem. Only the name, age and the police station name were changed on pre-drafted certificates and dispatched. Even the identification marks were not looked into properly, Hindu quot.es the petitioner as stating

The court, on its own, ordered that the Dean of the Government Rajaji Hospital here be impleaded in the case and posted the matter to March 19 for further hearing.

 The next hearing in the case will be on March 19 after the filing of reports.