The National
Human Right Commission issued following guidelines to be observed while video filming
and photography of postmortem examination in cases of death in police action:-
In
case of deaths in police action while conducting post-mortem examination of the
deceased photographs of the deceased should be taken and the post-mortem
examination of the deceased should be video filmed.
The
video film and photographs should be sent to the Commission. The aim of
video-filming and photography of postmortem examination should be:-
i) to record the detailed findings of the
post-mortem examination, especially pertaining to marks of injury and violence
which may suggest custodial torture.
ii)
to supplement the findings of post-mortem examination (recorded in the
postmortem report) by video graphic evidence so as to rule out any undue
influence or suppression of material information.
iii) to facilitate an independent review of
the post-mortem examination report at a later stage if required.
2. The following precautions should be taken
before conducting post-mortem examination:
i)
Both hands of the deceased need to be wrapped in white paper bags before
transportation. The dead body afterwards should be covered in special Body Bags
having zip pouches for proper transportation.
ii) Clothing on the body of the
deceased should not be removed by the police or any other person. It should be
collected, examined as well as preserved and sealed by the doctor conducting
the autopsy, and should be sent for further examination at the concerned
forensic science laboratory. A detailed note regarding examination of the
clothing should be incorporated in the postmortem examination report by the
doctor conducting the autopsy.
iii) In case of alleged firearms
deaths, the dead body should be subjected to radiological examination (X-rays/
CT Scan) prior to autopsy.
3. Video-filming and photography
of post-mortem examination should be done in the following manner:
i) At the time of video-filming of the
post-mortem examination the voice of the doctor conducting the post-mortem
should be recorded. The doctor should narrate his prima-facie observations
while conducting the postmortem examination.
ii) A total of 20-25 coloured
photographs covering the whole body should be taken. Some photographs of the
body should be taken without removing the clothes. The photographs should
include the following:
a) Profile photo-face (front,
right lateral and left lateral views), back of head.
b) Front of body (up to
torso-chest and abdomen) – and back
c) Upper extremity - front and
back
d) Lower extremity – front and
back
e) Focusing on each injury/
lesion-zoomed in after properly numbering the
f) Internal examination findings (2 photos of
soles and palms each, after making incision to show absence/ evidence of any
old/ deep seated injury). * In firearm injuries while describing, the distance
from heel as well as midline must be taken in respect of each injury which will
help later in reconstruction of events.
iii) Photographs should be taken
after incorporating post-mortem number, date of examination and a scale for
dimensions in the frame of photographs itself.
iv) While taking photographs the
camera should be held at right - angle to the object being photographed.
v) Video-filming and photography of the
post-mortem examination should be done by a person trained in forensic
photography and videography. A good quality digital camera with 10X optical
zoom and minimum 10 mega pixels should be used.
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