A division bench headed by the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered the exhumation of the remains of IIT Kharagpur student Faizan Ahmed for a second post-mortem, which should be conducted “preferably” within 10 days.
Faizan, who was found dead in a hostel room on the campus, was buried in his hometown in Assam.
While setting the deadline for the second post-mortem, the high court upheld anorder of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of the court issued on April 25.
The division bench struck down an appeal moved by the state seeking overturning of Justice Mantha’s order on the grounds that it was “bad in law”.
Faizan’s parents have moved the high court alleging that their son was murdered by senior students for resisting ragging. Justice Mantha had ordered exhumation of the remains of the body for a second post-mortem, which he had said should be conducted at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital.
The first post-mortem was conducted at the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital.
Bengal advocate-general Soumendra Nath Mookherjee submitted before the division bench that the forensic medicine expert, who Justice Mantha had asked to carry out the second post-mortem, was going beyond the limit set by the court.
The order issued by the division bench on Friday says: “Pursuant to the orders passed by the learned writ court (Justice Rajasekhar Mantha) dated 25.04.2023, it appears that the entire investigation itself is to be done by Dr Ajoy Kumar Gupta, forensic expert, who had retired from the services of the State of West Bengal…. From the submissions made by the learned advocate-general as well as the various grounds raised in these appeals, we find that the state has not resisted the direction issued by the learned writ court for conducting a second post-mortem by Gupta but the only apprehension of the state appears to be that in that process the investigation should not be taken over by the said forensic expert or by any other third party.”
“Considering the sensitivity of the issue, the order and direction issued by the learned single bench with regard to the second post-mortem shall be implemented as expeditiously as possible without unnecessary loss of time, preferably within ten days from the date.”
The court also said that in its view there was no need yet for any investigating agency to take forward the investigation and that this could happen only after Gupta conducted the second post-mortem, as directed by the “learned writ court in its order dated 25.04.2023”, said Ranajit Chatterjee, a lawyer of Faizan’s family.
Forensic medicine expert Gupta had told the court on March 29 that he was not satisfied with the report of the first post-mortem.
Faizan’s mother Rehana Ahmed told this newspaper over the phone on Friday: “The state is trying to delay the process of exhumation. This is reinforcing my apprehension that the IIT authorities and the police are trying to hide what caused Faizan’s death.”
The division bench wrote in its order: “We are of the clear view that the orders passed by the learned writ court should not be and shall not be construed to mean that the investigation will be done by Dr Gupta…. With this clarification, the appeals stand disposed of.”
