Md Ayub Ali
Criminal Investigation is a science that involves study of facts, identification of offenders, location of the incident, proof of the guilt, collection and examination of physical evidences to ensure justice. Of the various scientific techniques employed by the modern-day criminal investigations, autopsy plays the most decisive role in resolving a case. Also known as the post-mortem examination, autopsy means to “see for yourself.” It is a special surgical operation, performed by specially trained physicians, on a dead body with a view to discovering the cause of the death.
A post-mortem is required in cases of an unnatural or untimely death which falls under homicide or accident, suicide or suspicious death. Autopsy surgeons must follow procedures designed to carry out the autopsy. In an autopsy report, there must be a serial number with date, details of the findings, and the opinion of the medical officer as to the cause of death with remarks by a civil surgeon whose signature must be placed under the official seal.
The legal provisions on post-mortem examinations are enshrined in section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and sections 303 to 308 of the Police Regulations of Bengal (PRB). According to the law, the procedure of post-mortem is preceded by an inquest investigation conducted by the officer in charge of the concerned police station. The police officer shall send the dead body for post-mortem examination to the nearest civil surgeon where there is any doubt regarding the cause of death, or when for any other reason the police officer considers it expedient so to do. The dead body must be accompanied by a copy of surat hal report and a challan in triplicate in BP Form Number 49. On completing the post-mortem examination, the medical officer shall prepare a report in the BP Form Number 50 and a copy thereof shall be forwarded to the superintendent of police who shall cause the same to be laid before the court concerned.
A post-mortem report is the best evidence of an unnatural death that is admissible as evidence before the court as an expert opinion. Every criminal case has two major parts, ie: the presentation of evidence and the presentation of witnesses. When the expert is summoned by the court as a witness, the submission of his findings is an expert opinion and when he corroborates these findings with the autopsy report, this becomes the most reliable evidence in the eye of law. In Hadiuzzaman v State, (BLD, 1986), it was held that the deposition made by the medical officer on oath is a substantive piece of evidence, whereas his medical certificate is a corroboration of his evidence on oath.
In our country, medico-legal investigations lag behind the normal standard followed. In the cities where a government medical college is available, any academic staff of forensic medicine department of such college is empowered to perform an autopsy. In all other cases autopsy is done by the civil surgeon of the district hospitals. However, in practice, reality is very different. It is seen in most of the district hospitals that doctors who do not have any expertise in autopsy are involved in the procedures of post-mortem. They are chosen from other branches of medial science to perform autopsies. Therefore, they just sign the reports, and the entire activities are performed by the morgue attendants.
A post-mortem report helps the police officer come up with a reasonable conclusion about the actual cause of the death. Hence he will have to go through the report very carefully as each and every word of the report is significant for the investigation into the cause and manner of the death concerned. Unfortunately, most of the investigation officers hardly understand the post-mortem report as it is written in the language of medical science. As per section 306(b) of the PRB, police officers shall refer to the civil surgeon if they have any doubt in regard to any part of the medical report, but the real scenario is totally different.
The situation gets worse when the post-mortem report does not contain the actual cause of a death. As a result, thousands of death incidents are resolved without proper investigation.
The law provides the judge with absolute discretion to decide the admissibility and reliability of the autopsy report through the process of examination of the concerned expert. But it is seen that most of the lawyers, even judges, do not have sufficient training and expertise as to how the post-mortem reports are to be utilised for the purpose of justice. So the experts, during deposition in courts, may have to face some questions from the judges and lawyers that are not only irrelevant but also embarrassing.
There should be coordination among the police, judges, magistrates, lawyers and forensic experts to ensure a high standard of medico-legal investigation. To this end, there should be a provision of six months intensive training for newly recruited police officers, judges and lawyers enrolled in Bangladesh Bar Council.
- See more at:
http://www.dhakatribune.com/juris/2014/may/07/autopsies-criminal-investigation#sthash.O1BRJlOr.dpuf
