Madras HC declines to entertain appeal for fresh post mortem

The Madras High Court today refused to entertain an appeal seeking a fresh post mortem of bodies of woodcutters gunned down by Andhra Pradesh police and directed the appellant to approach the high court of the neighbouring state.
A division bench of the court was disposing of the appeal by one Muniammal, wife of one of the 20 persons killed in the April 7 police firing in Seshachalam hills in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, against a single judge order refusing to order a re-post mortem.
Passing interim orders on her petition on April 10, Justice M Sathyanarayanan had directed that the bodies of six of the 20 victims, hept in the mortuary of Thiruvannamalai government hospital, be preserved till the next hearing on April 17.

He, however, had declined to pass any order on the prayer of the petitioner for re-postmortem of the body of her husband, saying the court had no jurisdiction and pointed to petitions already filed before the high court for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Challenging this, the petitioner filed the appeal.
A division bench, comprising Justice Sathish K Agnihotri and Justice M Venugopal, before whom the appeal came up, said "having regard to the issue involved in pending writ petition before the High Court of Hyderabad for the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, we are of the view that the appellant may approach the said high court by way of seeking further direction as sought in the instant writ petition filed before this court."

It further said judicial discipline and propriety required that if the whole/entire cause of action had arisen in respect of the subject matter in an issue before a high court, the other high courts may keep their hands off from interfering with the matter.
"In such a view of the matter, we are not inclined to make any observation or pass any orders at this stage, reserving liberty to the appellant to approach" the High Court of Hyderabad for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the bench said.