Take up plea for Jaipal’s second autopsy, High Court told

Chandigarh, June 18

The Supreme Court today ruled that the Punjab and Haryana High Court erred in dismissing a petition for the second post-mortem of alleged gangster Jaipal Singh Bhullar on the ground that the death occurred in Kolkata and the post-mortem examination, too, was conducted there.

Directing the state to make necessary arrangements for the proper preservation and storage of the body, the Bench of Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice MR Shah asked the High Court to decide the petition on merit on Monday. The Bench asserted there were serious allegations against the Punjab Police in the case. It was claimed to have been involved in the alleged encounter, in which petitioner Bhupinder Singh’s son was killed. The body was brought to Punjab and is still here. The petitioner has alleged that the Punjab Police had resorted to manipulation of the post-mortem report.

Claiming that the nature of injuries showed Bhullar was shot point blank, his father Bhupinder Singh had asked for issuance of direction to the state to conduct the second postmortem either at the Chandigarh PGIMER, AIIMS-Delhi or some independent institute “to the know the exact detail and nature of the injuries caused due to police torture on various parts of the body”.

His counsel Simranjit Singh added the request to the Ferozepur Deputy Commissioner to conduct second postmortem had been declined. He added it was difficult to keep the victim’s body at the petitioner’s house for long due to summer. — TNS