HC directs parents to get body of Kallakurichi schoolgirl

CHENNAI: As the parents of the Kallakurichi schoolgirl who died suspiciously had agreed to get the body of their daughter, the Madras High Court directed them to get the body on Saturday between 6 am and 7 am and conduct the last rites peacefully on the same day evening.

Justice N Sathish Kumar passed the direction on hearing the plea by the parents of the deceased schoolgirl for conducting the re-post-mortem with a doctor of their choice.

After getting the order copy of the Supreme Court in this connection, the judge held that the Apex Court had not passed any direction to bar the re-post mortem with the experts of doctors appointed by the high court.

Rejecting the third post-mortem prayer by the parents' counsel, the judge held that considering the nature and background of the entire case and how the media trial is being conducted in this case, and false news circulated on social media, "The court is of the view that the reiteration of the earlier demand of the petitioner for inclusion of a doctor of his choice is not made with any bonafide reasons."

Justice Kumar also directed the JIPMER to review the re-post mortem report of the girl by appointing three JIPMER doctors and a forensic expert, including Dr Kusa Kumar Shaha, Dr Siddharth Das, and Dr Ambika Prasad Patra. The judge also directed the State to recommend a forensic expert.

“The above expert team of doctors is directed to analyze the videographs of the two postmortems and the two postmortem certificates in respect of the death of the girl and give its final opinion to the learned chief judicial magistrate, Villupuram in a sealed cover within a month, ” the judge held.

The court posted the matter on July 29 for filing the status report.