Family had alleged police brutality, refused to claim body until they received justice
Authorities at Sion Hospital had initially claimed that Sachin Jaiswar, a Dharavi resident, had succumbed to leptospirosis
The Bombay high court on Saturday directed JJ Hospital to carry out a second post-mortem on the body of 17-year-old Sachin Jaiswar, a Dharavi resident, who died at Sion Hospital on July 21, 2018. Jaiswar’s family had alleged that he died due to police brutality, and has refused to claim his body till date.
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The HC has asked a panel of doctors, who were not part of the team that performed the earlier post-mortem, to carry out the second one. The family has also agreed to claim the body after the next post-mortem and perform the last rites.
According to Jaiswar’s family, on the evening of July 12, a few police officials in plain clothes came to their home at Jai Bhawani chawl in Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Dharavi. The police asked for Jaiswar, who was at a birthday party. They told the family that they wanted to question him for a mobile theft.
The next day, the police took Jaiswar for questioning. When he returned, he complained of body pain, which eventually got aggravated. He was then taken to Sion Hospital, where he died on July 21, at around 7.30 pm. Doctors at the hospital told the family that Jaiswar had died of leptospirosis. However, the family had refused to accept the body, alleging torture and ill treatment from police, which they claimed resulted in his death. The family continued to demand police investigation. The probe was then handed over to the Crime Branch, which in its report stated that no evidence of police torture had been found.
The family didn’t accept the findings and went to the Bombay high court. On Saturday, the HC bench headed by Justice Manish Pitale and SS Shinde, after hearing Jaiswar’s family and public prosecutor, directed the Dean of JJ Hospital to conduct a second post-mortem of the body within three days. The court also ordered that a different panel of doctors look into it.
“This is the first step towards justice. We just want a fair investigation,” said advocate Siddharth Chandrashekhar, appearing for Jaiswar’s family. Ravindra Jaiswar, father of the deceased, said, “It has been two-and-a-half years and finally, there seems to be some hope for justice.”
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