Dear friends
Further to the letter by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on defective post mortem procedures in West Bengal (see http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2004/639/) and Urgent Appeal on the case of a young woman whose murder was covered up by the judicial and government authorities (see http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2004/647/), the Executive Director AHRC has today sent a second letter on these two concerns to the Chief Minister of West Bengal.
A copy of the letter follows. Please refer to the original letter and appeal, available through the links above or by writing to the Urgent Appeals Desk, for contact addresses and suggested action.
Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission
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LETTER TO THE CHIEF MINISTER
19 April 2004
Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
Chief Minister
Government of West Bengal
Writers Buildings
Kolkata-1, West Bengal
INDIA
Fax: +91-33-2214 5480
Email: cm@wb.gov.in
Your ref: 623 CMS
Dear Chief Minister,
Re: Post mortem procedures in West Bengal and the case of Mousumi Ari
I thank you for your Assistant Secretary’s letter dated 6 April 2004 acknowledging receipt of my letter on the horrible conditions of post mortem examinations in West Bengal, dated 23 March 2004.
I am sure you will appreciate how concerned the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is about the severity of defective post mortem procedures in West Bengal, as where post mortem procedures fail it can result in the complete denial of justice to victims of murder and their families. When people die as a result of foul play or under suspicious circumstances the best evidence they leave is their corpses, which can tell the tale of how the death occurred. When post mortems go wrong, the evidence of such crimes get buried along with the bodies.
The terrible murder of Mousumi Ari and subsequent events in that case illustrate clearly that people throughout West Bengal are deeply aware that something is wrong with post mortem procedures. AHRC has already written to you regarding the murder of Mousumi Ari (Kakdwip PS Case No. 101, UD Case No. 73/2003, 25,10.2003; referred to you by AHRC on 2 April 2004). In this instance, the doctor conducting the post mortem, one Dr. Gauranga Biswas, colluded with the police officer investigating the case and the executive magistrate to make the murder appear a suicide. In fact, it is entirely possible that the doctor did not even examine the body before signing the autopsy papers. The outraged family members, led by Mousumi’s mother and aunt, took the body back to their fishing village but rather than cremating it took the unprecedented step of covering it with plastic and burying it an eight-foot-deep pit that was then filled with salt. When they finally managed to secure a proper post mortem, undertaken by proper forensic doctors, it confirmed that the girl had been murdered. In fact, the second report showed that the first one was completely bogus.
At present, AHRC is awaiting news to the effect that legal action is being taken against the errant police, medical and judicial officers in this case, and trusts that you are looking into the case accordingly. Steps taken by you to remedy the gross injustices caused to families such as that of Mousumi Ari will go a long way to restoring public confidence in West Bengal’s judicial and medical institutions, particularly when coupled with serious reforms to forensic examinations in West Bengal. While Mousumi Ari’s family took extreme measures in their efforts to obtain justice, most others are unlikely to resort to such an approach, and rely more heavily upon the effective functioning of government and judicial institutions in the first instance, if justice is to be done.
Under these circumstances I urge you to once again take some strong measures to alter the situation regarding post mortem inquiries in West Bengal, and in particular, to personally undertake to ensure that the family of Mousumi Ari obtain justice and adequate redress. As this is a matter of great importance it would be useful if you were to announce to the public the measures that you have adopted in taking up the matter with the authorities concerned, as indicated in the letter from your Assistant Secretary.
Yours sincerely
(Signed)
Basil Fernando
Executive Director
