Police: Procedural ambiguity tied to viscera test delay

A day after the DT Next report on the long wait to get viscera procedure done by the lab of the Forensic Sciences department, H M Jayaram, Additional Commissioner (Law and Order - North), said that the  role  of police was restricted to recommending the cases for viscera analysis. 

“Only a Magistrate can issue the order for the samples to be sent to the forensic lab for viscera. Also, the test report will be first sent to the doctor, who carried out the post-mortem and the doctor, in turn, will send the final report to the Magistrate,” he explained. 

However, since there is no clarity over who should take the samples to the lab, cops from a particular station that handles medico-legal cases take time to submit the samples to forensic labs, he added. Another senior police official said that there is no direct communication between the forensic lab and police and added that everything transpires through the court. 

Further, attributing the delay to other factors, officials said that the top priority was given to murder cases, followed by important suspicious deaths. So, when more murder cases are sent for viscera examination, other cases lag.  When asked, why techie Arunachalam Ilayaraja’s viscera test results were delayed even after a month, officials said that it is not clear whether the officer concerned has recommended it for top priority.  

However, the officials said that after the introduction of the online facility to download the post mortem reports, the complaints of police demanding money for the deceased’s kin to facilitate insurance claims have considerably reduced.