Madurai: The Madras high court was on Friday informed that no ante-mortem injuries were found on the body of the Pudukottai fisherman who died after a fall into the sea following a collision of his boat with a Sri Lankan navy vessel.
When the court was also informed that the standard international protocol and procedures were not followed by Sri Lanka, justice G R Swaminathan suo motu impleaded the Consulate General of India in Jaffna and Union ministry of external affairs.

The court was hearing a petition filed by R Brundha, seeking a probe into the death of her husband R Raj Kiran. During the previous hearing, the petitioner apprehended that her husband’s death was due to gunshot injuries as Sri Lankan authorities had opened fire. She stated that she was not issued the postmorterm certificate by the Jaffna hospital and not allowed to see her husband’s body before burial as it came in a sealed coffin.

Taking note of the petitioner’s apprehensions, the court had directed a team of experts to exhume and conduct a re-postmortem on November 18.

When the case was taken up for hearing on Friday, the petitioner’s counsel submitted that no ante-mortem injuries were found on the body of the fisherman. He submitted that the body had been left unstitched after the first autopsy was conducted in Jaffna.

He stated that the body was covered with an old bedsheet and then the same was placed in a plastic cover and placed in the coffin. The body should have been stitched properly with due care to ensure dignity of the dead.

The case was adjourned to December 13.