PESHAWAR: Men performing autopsies on women victims’ bodies: Supreme Court ruling being violated
By Ashfaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR, Dec 26: Male medico-legal officers (MLOs) are continuing to conduct post-mortem on bodies of women victims in the hospitals of the province, in clear violation of the Supreme Court’s directives. The Supreme Court ruling clearly states that autopsies of all women victims should be performed by lady doctors, official sources said.
A full bench of the Supreme Court delivered a judgment in two criminal appeals on March 20, 1996, in which the federal health secretary was issued directives to implement the orders of the court.
The apex court in criminal appeal No 243 of 1993, Mohammad Iqbal versus State and criminal appeal No 244 of 1993, Mohammad Asghar versus State ruled: “ ... before parting with the judgment, we would like to observe that we know it by experience that the dead bodies of female human beings like those of male human beings are postmortemed by male doctors and their male paramedical staff.
‘‘For post mortem purposes, dead body is laid on a table in a naked conditions where male members of medical staff have free ingress. So much so that the female are made to break the skulls of the dead bodies with hammers and vaginal swabs are also taken by male members of the paramedical staff which is a shameful process and insulting not only to the dead body but also injurious to the feelings of close relatives of the dead body and also against the injunctions of Islam.”
The Supreme Court on March 20, 1996, had issued directives to all provincial governments that in Islam, the dead persons and bodies deserved to be respected, and directed that in future all post- mortem on women bodies should be performed by women doctors. No male member should be allowed to be present during the process. The skull, if required to be opened, should be got opened by Muslim male/female members of the paramedical staff, the ruling given by the Supreme Court says. The ruling further says that in no case a vaginal swab be taken by a male member of the paramedical staff. The apex court ruling further says that secretary of health, Government of Pakistan, will ensure that directions given by the Supreme Court are strictly complied with throughout Pakistan. The same directives were issued to all the provinces by the Ministry of Health, Islamabad, on May 13, 1996.
Acting on the Supreme Court order, the health ministry had circulated the Supreme Court directive to their respective health departments. However, the North-West Frontier Province health department is yet to comply with the directives and the post- mortem on women bodies are still conducted by male medico-legal officers. Not only post-mortem, but vaginal swabs of women are taken by male doctors. Officials at the Forensic Department of the Khyber Medical College, told Dawn that they did not have the required female staff to ensure compliance of the Supreme Court directives. Only two women medical officers, who basically work as demonstrators, also conducted autopsies besides taking lectures, the officials said. They said they were short of female staff as two posts of female medico-legal officers were lying vacant and the female paramedical staff was non- existent.
The situation in remote areas of the province is more alarming and pathetic there the medico-legal officers, having no training in forensic medicine, conduct autopsies on the bodies of female victims.
“During the current’s year, about 1993 persons were reportedly killed in the 23 districts, of which 175 happened to be women, on whom the post-mortem were conducted by male doctors,” said a source.
Official at the Forensic Department, say that apart from performance of their routine duties, these medico-legal officers are also required to visit courts in connection with recording of statements in courts to far-off areas in the province, whereas others visit for exhumation of bodies. So, of the total six medico-legal officers (four males and two females) and two morticians at the department, also have to perform duties in morning, evening and night shifts. Every year, at least 100 females’ autopsies take place at the department annually, besides other females who visited in connection with other problems, are handled by men, especially in evening and night shifts. Official say that only in the King Edwards Medical College, Lahore, the Supreme Court’s directives are being complied fully, because of the presence of female medico-legal officers and paramedical staff there while in other provinces, the directives are yet to be implemented for non-availability of female staff.
Officials also say that the female medico-legal officers could not be posted at night shift due to security problems, because most of the time bodies are brought from two rival groups, which create law and order problems. The department also entertain the cases referred to it by courts and Darul Aman in connection with medical opinion, such as, age assessment, dental analysis, X-rays and adulthood which are conducted by males.
The department is supposed to conduct autopsies of deaths occurring in Peshawar district, besides those referred from other districts. In early 90s, the health department sanctioned seven posts of divisional medico-legal officers in BPS-19 with a view to improve the reporting of the autopsies at the district headquarters hospitals and civil hospitals. But the government promoted doctors from general cadres on the same posts. Still, there are medico-legal officers, with the desired post-graduate qualifications, waiting to be appointed on the same posts. Officials said they had got excellent infrastructure, but the facilities were next to zero. As a rule, the forensic department is a parent institution for all the medico-legal officers of the province, which is required to organise refresher courses and seminars to educate them regarding conduct of autopsies, but owing to lack of resources the department cannot do that. Subsequently, in most cases, the reporting of the autopsies happened to be wrong and incomplete. The male casualty medical officers and medico-legal officers in the hospitals are also conducting the autopsies of the bodies of the women and take vaginal swabs from them, because of non-availability of female medico-legal officers.
