Calcutta HC allows victim’s family to take possession of body in custodial death case

Kolkata: A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Saturday approved the plea to handover the body of Ashoke Shaw, the victim who allegedly died in custody of Amherst Street Police Station this week, to his family members.

The division bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya also directed the body should be transferred under security cover from S.S.K.M. Medical College & Hospital morgue to his residence in central Kolkata and subsequently to the crematorium.

The division bench has also instructed the police to ensure that no tension or chaos surfaces during the entire process.

The body was transferred to the S.S.K.M. morgue after the postmortem of the body was conducted at Police Morgue. The postmortem report has however ruled out the possibilities of physical assault on the victim and said that the cause of his death was internal hemorrhage.

The state BJP has termed the autopsy report as fabricated meant to save the skins of the guilty policemen of Amherst Street Police Station. BJP has demanded a second postmortem of the victim’s body at any central hospital like AIIMS at Kalyani in Nadia district or defence-run Command Hospital in South Kolkata.

However, the family members informed the Calcutta High Court that they are not keen on second post-mortem.