Mansa: Punjab and Haryana high court has directed a fresh post-mortem of 35-year-old Daljit Singh of Bhamme Kalan village in Mansa district be conducted by a specially constituted medical board at PGIMER, Chandigarh, on Wednesday.Daljit died under suspicious circumstances in his village on Oct 27. While his family alleged he died of a drug overdose, police claimed he was murdered. The next day, police used force to take custody of the body while it was being taken to an ongoing protest site seeking justice for slain anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota. Jhota was shot dead by a chemist after he confronted him over alleged sale of synthetic drugs in Mansa on Oct 13.
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Daljit’s body was taken to AIIMS, Bathinda, where the initial post-mortem was conducted on Oct 28 with the consent of Daljit’s father despite opposition from his wife, sister and mother, who were participating in the Mansa protest.On Tuesday, a single bench of Justice Sanjay Vashisth instructed authorities to transfer the body to PGIMER by 10am and submit the viscera examination report to the court at the earliest. The court directed that the cremation take place at the Sector 25 crematorium in Chandigarh immediately following the medical procedure without the presence of politicians.The court ordered DGPs for both Punjab and UT Chandigarh, along with PGIMER authorities, to work in close coordination to manage security and cordon off the cremation ground.The court ruled that the deceased’s parents, widow, sister, minor children, close relatives and friends must be brought to the cremation site under adequate police protection to perform the last rites peacefully. The bench banned any political party, politician (from ruling or opposition camps), or external organisation from participating in or interfering with the cremation.While ordering the PGIMER autopsy and security measures, the bench rejected the demand for a CBI investigation. The court also ordered the DGP, UT Chandigarh, to be impleaded as a respondent in the case.The directives came on a criminal writ petition filed by Daljit’s sister, Amarjeet Kaur, who sought a fresh autopsy at PGIMER, a CBI probe, departmental action against officers involved in forcefully seizing the body and security for the family.Reacting to the order, Amarjeet Kaur, accompanied by her sister-in-law Paramjeet Kaur, said, “Although we are yet to receive a formal copy of the court order, we want the cremation to be conducted in our village, not in Chandigarh. However, we are ready to cooperate with the post-mortem at PGIMER.”The initial post-mortem report recorded eight injuries on the body. Noting the findings, the HC observed that determining the exact nature of these injuries, specifically whether they were ante-mortem (inflicted before death), was essential to clear doubts surrounding the circumstances of his death.
