HC directs hospitals to videograph autopsies of people killed in Delhi violence

A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and I S Mehta directed the authorities to preserve the DNA samples of all the bodies and not to dispose of any unidentified body till Wednesday, the next date of hearing.

The directions came while hearing a habeas corpus plea by a man seeking the whereabouts of his brother-in-law who went missing during the riots over the amended citizenship law which left at least 44 people dead and over 200 injured.

During the hearing, the court was informed by the police that the body of the missing person, Hamza, was recovered from a drain at Gokulpuri on Monday and his post-mortem would be conducted during the day at the RML Hospital.

The high court had Thursday directed the police to publish on its official website details of all unidentified bodies, brought to government hospital mortuaries following the riots in northeast Delhi, along with their photographs.

The court had also directed the police, represented by Delhi government standing counsel (Criminal) Rahul Mehra and advocate Chaitanya Gosain, to make "all out efforts" to locate and produce Hamza before it.

During the hearing, Mehra had told the court that the Delhi government will facilitate the petitioner -- Ansari Mo. Arif -- to visit all the hospital mortuaries where bodies of people who died in the riots have been placed.

"The Delhi Police is also directed to publish the details of all the unidentified dead bodies that are lying in the various hospital mortuaries -- both under the control of the Centre and the Delhi government -- along with photographs and other details, including specifics of post-mortem and DNA samples, on their official website," the court had said.