US national missing: Sadhu's death points to grave lapses

Left Justin Shetler went missing in Parvati valley in September and Satyanarayan Rawat the sadhuThe death of selfproclaimed sadhu Satyanarayan Rawat 45 the prime suspect in the disappearance of American adventurer Justin Shetler 35 during a trek in Himachal Pradesh in September in the custody of Manikaran police Kullu district on October 21 and the manner in which it was handled has raised suspicions of the police having bungled up the investigationAlso read Missing American travellers kin rue slow pace of searchmidday had on October 24 reported that Shetler went missing during a trek through Parvati valley in Kullu and Rawat who accompanied him allegedly hanged himself by his loincloth from the grill of the police lockup weeks laterRules violatedThe Manikaran police allegedly violated a number of National Human Rights Commission NHRC guidelines see box Violations while dealing with a custodial death After finding Rawat hanging in the lockup they drove 16 km to the district hospital in Kullu to have the doctors examine his body late on October 21 mdash where he was declared dead on arrival mdash instead of calling in a local doctor The body was kept in the hospitals mortuary till a panel of two nonforensic experts mdash Dr Hiralal Bodh and Dr Hitesh an anaesthetist mdash performed an autopsy the next morningAlso read Curious case of missing US national and dead sadhuA doctor at the Kullu district hospital said as per the norm in custodial deaths the autopsy was recorded on camera But that too was allegedly riddled with serious lapses The doctor said neither Dr Bodh nor Dr Hitesh visited the crime scene the police lockup to ascertain the cause and manner of death Rather he claimed the doctors only went through the inquest panchnama prepared by the Manikaran police to draw their conclusions besides an examination of the bodyEven the inquest panchnama allegedly violated the rules There was no judicial magistrate present during its preparation as mandated under Section 176 of CrPC in cases of custodial deaths In a meek defence of the alleged lapses on the part of the district hospital the doctor said ldquoWe rarely get such cases of custodial deathsrdquo The viscera has been preserved and sent to the forensic science laboratory in Mandi district Himachal to check for the presence of poisonEvasive responsesDr Kavaljeet Singh medical superintendent of the district hospital said the death was caused by ldquoasphyxia due to hangingrdquo He sought time to respond when asked why his doctors skipped studying the crime scene When midday got in touch with him again he refused to speak much ldquoWe have submitted our report to the police You need to contact themrdquo is all he saidThe hospital authorities werent the only ones clamming up The Manikaran police too werent forthcoming Asked why the police did not seek the help of forensic experts to study the crime scene Bhupender Jamwal head constable of Manikaran police station said ldquoYou can speak to my superior officers The case is with the Kullu policerdquoJonathan Skeels Shetlers family friend who has been in Manali since October 3 said ldquoThe way in which the whole case is being handled compels us to believe that the truth will never come outrdquoRevaluation mustSr forensic surgeon Grant Medical College Mumbai CentralIt is the duty of the State Human Rights Commission or the judicial board to ensure that a list of such postmortem examination centres with the names of expert forensic surgeons are made available to the local police The manner in which this case was handled needs a revaluation by expertsAK Jain Special rapporteur NHRC New DelhiAll custodial deaths must be reported to the NHRC within 24 hours as also the findings of autopsies In case of any discrepancy or suspicion of foul play one can write to the NHRC Accordingly the NHRC can decide on an independent probe by a senior IPS officer into the custodial death