Girls' autopsies marred by forensic flaws: Experts

Three forensic reports have strengthened the claim that the three minor sisters from Bhandara found murdered in a well on February 16 were not sexually assaulted Reports from Grant Medical College GMC and KEM Hospital in Mumbai and from All India Institute of Medical Sciences AIIMS Delhi cite that the victims had not been raped MiD DAY in its March 5 edition lsquoCops attempt dummy testrsquo had mentioned how the police intended to approach forensic experts Dr S D Nanandkar GMC Dr Harish Phatka KEM and Dr T D Dogra formerly with AIIMS and CBI for ascertaining the propriety of procedures adopted by a panel of forensic nonexperts at Bhandara General Hospital to perform autopsies Special Inspector General Nagpur range Rajendra Singh said ldquoAll three experts rule out sexual assault and confirm death was due to drowning We will now be focussing on three possibilities of death accidental suicidal or homicidal pushed into the wellrdquo Not in line Dr T D Dogra condemned the manner in which the Bhandara doctors conducted the postmortems ldquoTo my knowledge doctors who did the postmortems do not have any knowledge of forensic medicine They seem to be medical officers with no understanding about postmortemsrdquo ldquoIn any suspected sexual assault death autopsy usually the finger test method is never followed Moreover the bodies were highly decomposed leading to the tissues becoming fragile The worst is that instead of using proper light to examine the genital area the lady doctor used a mobile phone light to see the extent of damagerdquo said Dr Dogra Asked if he has elaborated all this in his report Dr Dogra said ldquoI was asked for an opinion and I furnished the same in brief If the police ask for detailed notes I can prepare the same for them and send itrdquo He continued ldquoWe all make mistakes but if the mistake is pointed out the least they can do is to rectify their mistake after consulting senior experts rather than making it a prestige issue and claiming that their findings are correctrdquo Grave incongruities The bodies of three minors were brought in for autopsies at 8 pm on February 16 They were left out in the open without any preservation until the next day when the postmortems were conducted gtgt In case of the 11yearold victim the postmortem started at 1 pm and was completed at 215 pm The body decomposed for 17 hours before autopsy started gtgtu00a09yearoldrsquos autopsy started at 215 pm with the body decomposing for 1825 hours gtgtu00a06yearoldrsquos autopsy started at 410 pm and the body decomposed for 20 hours gtgtu00a0Dr Harish Phatak head of the department forensic medicine and toxicology KEM Hospital found discrepancies in the postmortem PM reports prepared by Bhandara panel of doctors gtgtu00a0The PM note The deceased39s eyes were closed Forensic expert Photograph clearly shows that eyes of 11yearold had popped out due to decomposition and were not closed gtgtu00a0PM note Tongue is inside the mouth and it is protruding Forensic expert If the tongue was inside mouth then how could it be protruding gtgtu00a0PM note Lungs not observed by doctors as per the video Forensic expert Usually in a case of drowning lungs have to be observed for size colour and consistency Lungs should be cut and observed for type of fluid that is oozing out The doctors who did the autopsy just mentioned congestion and have not given any other observation gtgtu00a0PM note There is congestion of all internal organs Forensic expert In case of fresh water drowning water gets absorbed in blood circulation which results in hyper viscosity It is reflected in form of edema of face congestion and swelling of internal organs gtgtu00a0Forensic surgeons also expressed shock at the manner in which a cell phone light was used to examine the genital area