Jaipal Bhullar Encounter: Punjab & Haryana High Court Directs Second Postmortem In View Of Supreme Court's Direction

This order comes after the Supreme Court last week set aside an order passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court itself dismissing the petition filed by the father of Bhullar, who was allegedly killed in an alleged fake police encounter by Punjab police at Kolkata.

The Bench of Justice Avneesh Jhingan observed:

"In normal circumstances, it would have been appropriate to hear the West Bengal authorities but considering that time is the essence and in view of direction by the Supreme Court, the petition is being decided today itself."

A vacation bench comprising Justices Indira Banerjee and MR Shah [Supreme Court] last week requested the High Court of Punjab and Haryana to decide the petition filed by the petitioner on merits on Monday itself.

Earlier, the High Court had dismissed the petition for lack of jurisdiction since the petitioner's son had died in Kolkata, West Bengal, outside its jurisdiction and post-mortem had also been conducted by the doctors of Kolkata.

Today's Order

Ordering a second postmortem, the Court clarified that while deciding the petition, it was not opining or commenting upon the facts pleaded with regard to the encounter of son of the petitioner.

"Only the prayer for the second postmortem is being dealt with. The petitioner would be at liberty to avail remedies available in law for redressal of grievances, if any," added the Court.

Further, the Court said that ignoring the technicalities, considering the nature of the relief sought, noting the fact that body of son of the petitioner is lying at his place for almost nine days and rejection of prayer of the petitioner at this stage may result in irreversible damage by not conducting the second post-mortem, the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh (PGIMER) is directed to constitute a Board and conduct second post-mortem expeditiously.

Lastly, disposing of the petition, the Court directed:

"Let the petitioner hand over the body of his son to PGIMER, Chandigarh on 22nd June, 2021 at 10:00 A.M. for conducting the second post-mortem."

Taking note of serious allegations against the Punjab Police in the instant case and petitioner's allegation that the Punjab Police had resorted to manipulation of the postmortem report, the Supreme Court hadobserved in its Friday order that the High Court erred in dismissing the petition on the ground that the death had occurred and post-mortem had been conducted in Kolkata, West Bengal.

"There are, however, serious allegations against the Punjab police. The Punjab Police is alleged to have been involved in the alleged encounter in which the petitioner's son was killed. The dead body of the petitioner's son has been brought to Punjab and it is presently lying in Punjab. The Punjab Police is in seisin of the case. The petitioner has alleged that the Punjab Police has resorted to manipulation of the post-mortem report." the Bench said

Case title – Bhupinder Singh v. State of Punjab

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