Twisha Sharma death case: Madhya Pradesh HC allows second postmortem; husband withdraws bail plea

MADHYA PRADESH, MAY 22 : The Madhya Pradesh High Court has allowed a second postmortem examination of Twisha Sharma, a Noida woman whose family alleges she was harassed for dowry before her death last week. The order came on a petition filed by her father, Navnidhi Sharma.

According to Twisha’s family lawyer, the HC has directed the state government to arrange for a team of doctors from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi to travel to Bhopal to conduct the examination. The family approached the high court two days after a lower court turned down their plea for a second autopsy.

The High Court also directed that the second post-mortem examination be videographed.

Meanwhile, Twisha’s absconding husband Samarth Singh has withdrawn his anticipatory bail plea filed in the high court.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the state before the High Court’s principal bench in Jabalpur during the hearing of multiple petitions related to the alleged dowry death case, supported Twisha’s father’s plea.

Mehta, however, clarified that the state’s support for the petition should not be construed as doubting the competence of the doctors who conducted the first post-mortem at AIIMS-Bhopal on May 13.

A team of doctors had conducted the first autopsy a day after Twisha was allegedly found hanging on the terrace of her matrimonial home in Bhopal on May 12.

Based on the findings of the first post-mortem, Bhopal Police Commissioner Sanjay Kumar had stated that the report strongly suggested death by suicide and not murder.

Twisha’s family, however, rejected the findings, alleging several lapses in the autopsy process. They claimed the investigating team failed to submit the belt or band allegedly used in the hanging during the May 13 examination and also raised concerns over multiple injuries mentioned in the report.

The family had earlier approached a Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) court in Bhopal on May 20 seeking permission for a second post-mortem at AIIMS-Delhi. The court dismissed the plea, citing jurisdictional limitations.

During the JMFC proceedings, Bhopal police had also informed the court that preserving the body adequately required a temperature of minus 80 degrees Celsius, while the mortuary facility at AIIMS-Bhopal could maintain only minus 4 degrees Celsius.

Following the dismissal of the plea, Twisha’s father moved the Madhya Pradesh High Court seeking a second post-mortem at AIIMS-Delhi.

Two days ago, Judicial Magistrate First Class Anudita Gupta in Bhopal rejected the family’s plea, stating that the conscience of the court must be satisfied to order a re-postmortem.

Minor infractions of procedure will not impel the court to order a second autopsy, the magistrate had noted.

The lower court also observed that the body was currently kept in the AIIMS Bhopal mortuary at -4 degrees Celsius, but required -80 degrees for longer preservation, a facility unavailable anywhere in the city.

Following Twisha’s death, police registered an FIR under Sections 80(2), 85, and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita along with relevant sections of the Dowry Prohibition Act, naming her husband Samarth Singh and mother-in-law and former judge Giribala Singh.

Police have also announced a cash reward of Rs 30,000 for information leading to Samarth Singh’s arrest and approached the court for revocation of his passport.

-PTI