Madras HC judge orders autopsy, seeks report before noon in alleged police torture of farmer

CHENNAI:  The Madras High Court on Saturday directed the deans of the government medical colleges in Madurai, Tiruchy and Thanjavur to form a panel of doctors to conduct an autopsy on the body of Sembulingam, a farmer of Ariyalur district, who died on December 5 allegedly after being brutally assaulted by police.

After hearing a petition filed by Karthikeyan, a relative of Sembulingam of Kasankottai village in Udayarpalayam in Ariyalur district, at a special sitting at his residence, Justice G Chandrasekharan directed the medical team to complete the postmortem by 12 pm on Sunday and hand over the body to the family members, who were told to conduct the funeral in a peaceful manner.

The judge also directed police to permit a representative, other than a doctor, of the family to be present during the postmortem which has to be video-recorded. Appearing for the petitioner, advocate K Balu said a police team led by Vikkiramangalam police inspector Velusamy barged into Sembulingam’s house on November 25 while searching for his son-in-law in a case.

The police team assaulted Sembulingam, his wife and son indiscriminately, damaged household goods and threatened the family. All the three, admitted to the Ariyalur government hospital for treatment for injuries, were forcefully discharged at the instance of police, the counsel said. Later, they got admitted to a private hospital in Tiruchy. In the meantime, Sembulingam died on December 5.

The judge rejected the plea to include an expert of the family’s choice in the team of doctors to be set up to conduct the postmortem. Referring to the prayer for transferring the investigation to CBI since the matter concerns the state police, the judge directed police to file a reply and adjourned the matter by a week.