The Madras High Court on Friday extended the time for preserving the bodies of six persons, gunned down in an encounter in the Seshachalam forests of Andhra Pradesh, till April 17, but refused to pass any order on second post-mortem.
Justice M Sathyanarayanan adjourned the case till next Friday following a request from counsel for Muniammal of Polur of Thiruvannamalai district, the wife of one of those killed.
She had sought conducting a second post-mortem on the body of her husband killed in the alleged encounter by Andhra Pradesh Police in the Seshachalam Forests near Tirupati on Tuesday.
“There is no jurisdiction for this court to pass any order on second post-mortem because already Andhra Pradesh High Court is seized of the matter and there is PIL pending in the Supreme Court…This court cannot pass any order as there is no FIR filed in the jurisdiction of this court,” the judge said.
The judge said the petitioner was at liberty to approach the Andhra Pradesh High Court or Supreme Court in this regard.
K Balu, counsel for the petitioner, submitted that the bodies be preserved till a decision was taken by the petitioners on approaching the Andhra Pradesh High Court or Supreme Court.
Following this, the judge adjourned the case to April 17.
The bodies would be preserved in a mortuary in Thiruvannamalai District Headquarters government hospital, about 170 km from here.
Meanwhile, preventing MDMK chief Vaiko from undertaking his proposed protest in neigbouring Andhra Pradesh against the recent police killing, Tamil Nadu Police today detained him and about 1,000 of his supporters while they were on their way to Chittoor.
“I demand the immediate arrest and slapping of murder charges against police officials responsible for the fake encounter and killing of 20 Tamils,” said Vaiko.
Demanding probe by a sitting Supreme Court judge on the issue, he sought adequate compensation to the families of 20 woodcutters killed in the police killing which he termed as “fake”.
