Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the Commissioner of Kolkata Police to ensure that the entire video footage of Amherst Street Police Station in central Kolkata is preserved. The Bench also directed that the body of the deceased, which is presently lying in the police morgue, be shifted to the morgue at SSKM Hospital.
A writ petition was filed in Calcutta High Court in connection with the death of a man inside the mentioned police station on Wednesday. The matter was heard by the Division Bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya.
The apprehension of the petitioner was that the CCTV footage should be kept intact and preserved and should not be tampered with. The petitioner also prayed that the footage be handed over to the Registrar General of Calcutta High Court.
“In our view, at present we do not suspect any foul play by the respondent police,” the Bench observed and further directed, “However, we direct the Commissioner of Police to ensure that the entire video footage is preserved after recording the entire footage in any other device which cannot be erased. This recording should be certified by an appropriate authority of the respondent police, who will be personally held responsible if it is found that there was any tampering or deletion of footage.”
The Division Bench further observed that considering the seriousness of the issue, they “hope and trust” that the respondent police will act responsibly in the matter and ensure that the footage is preserved in an appropriate manner to be produced before the court as and when directed. The police were also directed to file their affidavit stating their stand with regards to the allegations made in the writ petition.
The state counsel had submitted a gist of the case diary and also the autopsy report in a sealed copy. On Friday, an appeal was also made for conducting a second autopsy.
However, the Division Bench reported said that first the family members of the deceased should be made party to the PIL and
thereafter their views on second-autopsy might be considered. The matter was
listed for hearing on November 23.
The autopsy was conducted at the Police Morgue on November 16. According to the autopsy reports, the cause of death is internal haemorrhage and no wound was found on the body of
the deceased.