The Madras High Court on Friday directed the Tamil Nadu government to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the death of a 24-year-old pregnant woman from Sivaganga district, and directed authorities to conduct a fresh autopsy by an impartial medical board.
The judge ordered L. Victoria Gowri, Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to form the Special Investigation Team within 48 hours with officers not below the rank of Superintendent of Police from the CB-CID or other specialized units.
The judge also ordered the police to hand over the entire case records and digital evidence to the Special Investigation Team.
The Supreme Court ordered the Director of Medical Education to form an “impartial medical council” within 24 hours, adding that “doctors who performed an early autopsy cannot serve on the council.”
“Pending its formation, instructions have been issued to keep the body at Pudukottai Government Medical College Hospital. The medical council has been instructed to conduct a fresh post-mortem on the body within 48 hours of its formation,” Justice Gauri said.
The court issued its order based on a writ petition and various petitions submitted by S. Fatima Bifi, the mother of the deceased in Afrin, seeks to transfer the investigation to an independent, independent investigation committee and conduct a new autopsy to confirm the real cause of her daughter’s death.
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According to the petitioner, Afrin married Muhammad Ashraf on January 25, 2026, and was approximately four months pregnant when she died. Fatima Bivi alleged that her daughter faced dowry harassment, physical assault and mental cruelty due to her additional demand for some gold. She told the court that the circumstances surrounding the death, which occurred within five months of the marriage, required an independent investigation.
The petitioner’s lawyer, SK Venkat Raman, said that although the police registered the FIR, they did not conduct a fair or transparent investigation.
He alleged that the authorities failed to preserve crucial evidence and did not provide post-mortem certificate, post-mortem videography, investigation report, forensic reports and other medical records despite repeated requests from the family of the deceased.
The authorities only provided the video and post-mortem testimony on June 29 after the Supreme Court intervened.
Advocate Raman said that after examining the post-mortem video, the family found that the doctors had not conducted the examination as per the guidelines laid down by the court in its 2020 judgment in RM Arun Swaminathan v. State. He also said that the doctors failed to record the injuries visible on the body in the autopsy report.
Raman said the family has requested a fresh autopsy as directed by the court.
