Two hospital attendants who embalmed and later buried the internal organs of a young midwife, who was found dead at the Velanai Hospital recently, appeared before the Kayts Magistrate on Friday (30) to give their statements.
Emmanuel Arul and Anthony Angelo are currently in remand for being under the influence of liquor, bad conduct, withholding information from the court, and failure to appear before the magistrate when the body of Tharshika Saravanan’s body was being exhumed at the Kaithady cemetery in the Jaffna peninsula on Wednesday (28).
P. Kuganeshwaran, a lawyer from Home for Human Rights (HHR), is representing the victim’s family in the case. “If police had done their duty from the beginning, organisations such as ours would not have had to intervene on behalf of the family,” he told the Sunday Times.
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| Workers lift the coffin containing Tharshika’s body |
“At the request of the Colombo JMO, the Kayts Magistrate ordered the internal organs of Tharshika to be exhumed from the Kottady Cemetery in central Jaffna, sealed in a box in his presence and be kept at the Jaffna General Hospital until Monday (2) when the statements of the two attendants will be recorded once more,” said Mr Kuganeshwaran.
This was after Colombo JMO Dr. A. Alwis informed that some of the vital organs to conduct this inquiry was missing and that in the circumstances he was unable to give his findings. “This is required as their initial statements were contradictory and one of the attendants was under the influence of alcohol,” Mr. Kuganeshwaran explained.
“We have also applied for a DNA test to be carried out on the internal organs to affirm that they belong to the deceased, prior to proceeding with the postmortem,” Mr. Kuganeshwaran said. Following an order by the Kayts Magistrate, the 28-year-old woman’s body was exhumed from the Kaithady cemetery on Wednesday (28) to be sent to the Colombo JMO Office for a second postmortem.
The body was later sent to Colombo under police guard, accompanied by two family members and a staffer from HHR, after being identified by the family.
The case of Tharshika, who was found hanging inside her quarters at the northern hospital on July 10, remains unresolved as family members suspect that she was killed and that it was not a case of a mere suicide as stated in the Jaffna JMO’s report.
However, Dr Priyantha Seneviratne, the doctor who was arrested in connection with the midwife’s case, has been out on bail since July 16. He was in charge of the Velanai hospital.
No date has been fixed as yet for him to be presented in court.
“The victim’s family has complained to the Home for Human Rights that men in civvies visited their home and warned them not to pursue the matter as it was a clear case of suicide and that the family should just accept it,” said Mr Kuganeshwaran, attorney-at-law.
The family was also urged not to demand the exhumation of the body, he claimed.
Mr. Kuganeshwaran added: “Tharshika’s family claims that she had no reason to kill herself and that they were aware of the doctor’s interest in their daughter and how they’d had a dispute over him buying her a new phone to replace the one she’d lost.
“She had reportedly rejected the offer saying that her brother would buy her a new phone. “In addition, it is alleged that the victim’s sister knew of more phone exchanges between the victim and the doctor,” alleged Mr Kuganeshwaran.
“If police had recorded proper evidence and requested the necessary forensic tests and other relevant samples to be taken and filed a ‘B’ Report, as would usually be the procedure when many witnesses and the family come forward in open court to give evidence against the primary suspect.
“Instead, they filed an ‘A’ Report, which enabled the doctor to be enlarged on bail in less than 24 hours of having applied for bail, which in itself was quite unusual, especially as the application was made after 2pm on a Friday (16),” added the lawyer.
“Police also objected to the exhumation of the body under section 373 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code, stating that once a postmortem had been carried out, another could not be done. However, as this was an incorrect interpretation of the section, the court rejected their objection,” he said.
Mr. Kuganeshwaran also alleged that a relative of the doctor was said to be attached to the Velanai naval base. “The doctor was known to visit it regularly. Therefore, it’s likely that both the navy and hospital authorities are pressurising police to close the case as soon as possible,” he alleged.
The results of the Colombo JMO’s postmortem report are still awaited. |
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