Riz case: HC wants details of body found on tracks

The Times of India 27 March,2008 P. 13 The Times of India Delhi

Kolkata: Calcutta high court on Wednesday directed the West Bengal government to submit more details on the condition of Rizwanur Rahman’s body at the time of its recovery from the railway tracks near Patipukur. The state will now have to file a supplementary affidavit with Form 48 of the Police Regulations of Bengal, by April 1. Form 48 contains details of a corpse recovered by the police in an unnatural death case.

This document has the details, such as the identity of the dead person, his or her age, exact location where the body was found, possible cause of death and records of the informant. Though it is mandatory to fill this form and send it to a magistrate for an inquest, no copy has been attached to the affidavit in opposition submitted by the state government earlier. The issue regarding the form assumed significance recently, after Rahman’s family members told the court that GRP had registered the age of the man — whose body was found on the rail tracks on September 21, 2007 — as 55 years. They had claimed that the body found on the tracks was not of Rizwanur’s.

On Wednesday, Justice Dipankar Datta wanted to know from senior counsel Samaraditya Pal why GRP had recorded the age of a 30-year-old man as 55. Pal, representing Kolkata Police officers indicted by CBI for abetting Rizwanur’s suicide, said the matter shouldn’t be taken into account as such things happened in a hurry.
With thanks from The Time of India
©All rights reserved with the Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd
For any query:- legalpoint@aol.in