MP High Court orders AIIMS Delhi team for Twisha Sharma's second autopsy

A single bench of the MP high court on Friday asked the Madhya Pradesh govt to make immediate arrangements for flying a specialised team of doctors from AIIMS, Delhi, to Bhopal for the second autopsy on the body of Twisha Sharma. The decision comes just two days after judicial magistrate first class Anudita Gupta in Bhopal rejected the family’s request for a second postmortem and also suggested that the probe so far did not warrant any such action. During hearing on the petition filed by Twisha’s father, Navnidhi Sharma, senior counsel for Twisha’s husband Samarth Singh said that he has no objection if the body of the deceased is subjected to a second postmortem; however, his only worry was that the names of the doctors at AIIMS, Bhopal, who are very good, will be tarnished. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the state govt through video-conferencing, argued that conducting a second postmortem does not amount to raising a finger at anyone; rather, it is intended to bolster the confidence of every common person in the entire process. He further said that he neither doubts the correctness of the report or the competence of the doctors concerned, but, in the best interest of everyone, a second autopsy may be allowed. When Justice AK Singh asked what would be better – to take her body to AIIMS, Delhi, or fly a team of doctors from there to Bhopal – to conduct the second autopsy, advocate general Prashant Singh submitted that they’ll arrange all the logistics and the team can come to Bhopal and conduct the post-mortem. The bench requested the director of AIIMS, New Delhi, to constitute a team of experts at the earliest who may arrive by a special flight arranged by the state govt to conduct the postmortem examination.