HC rejects plea seeking Commission of Inquiry to look into swapping of bodies of 2 COVID deceased

During the hearing on Friday, the state government filed a detailed status report stating that the process of cremation of the petitioners' father, whose body got unfortunately exchanged with a woman victim, was completed by the latter's family with full religious rites. Later on, when it came to light that the bodies got swapped, the family of female victim withdrew from remaining rituals and the district administration collected the last remains of the deceased father of the petitioners and thereafter, the remains were kept in safe custody at Shaheedan Saab crematorium at Amritsar.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday rejected a petition seeking the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry into the swapping of bodies of two COVID-19 deceased at the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital in Amritsar. Two sons of a 92-year-old man, who died of COVID-19 at the hospital on July 17 and whose body got swapped with that of a woman, filed the petition alleging conspiracy by the Punjab government to cover up the incident.

The swapping of bodies came to light when family members of the 92-year-old deceased insisted on seeing his face before cremation in Hoshiarpur. They were shocked to find the body of a woman wrapped in a PPE kit. However, the family of the 37-year-old woman, another COVID-19 victim, had already performed the last rites in Amritsar.

The petitioners had termed a magisterial inquiry ordered by the Punjab government as a sham and a “huge conspiracy by the State of Punjab to cover up the entire matter”, and sought a Commission of Inquiry to be constituted by the court to look into the allegations. Refusing to intervene in the petition, the court observed that the submissions being made by the petitioners are “unfounded and premature, since the enquiry is already being conducted and final report is yet to come and moreover the state has filed a report that the father of the petitioners has unfortunately expired and has been cremated also.” However, on the petitioners' submission for a DNA test on the ashes of their deceased father, the court directed that the feasibility of such a test giving conclusive findings be examined and the report be submitted on the next date of hearing, on July 29.

Giving further details, a Punjab government release quoting the Punjab Advocate General said that the High Court Bench of Justice Vivek Puri had directed the State on the last date of hearing to file a detailed affidavit on the aspects concerning death and last rites of the father of the petitioners. During the hearing on Friday, the state government filed a detailed status report stating that the process of cremation of the petitioners' father, whose body got unfortunately exchanged with a woman victim, was completed by the latter's family with full religious rites.

Later on, when it came to light that the bodies got swapped, the family of female victim withdrew from remaining rituals and the district administration collected the last remains of the deceased father of the petitioners and thereafter, the remains were kept in safe custody at Shaheedan Saab crematorium at Amritsar. The court, after hearing the submissions made on behalf of the state government by Assistant Advocate General Harsimar Singh Sitta, asked the counsel for petitioners whether they wanted to receive the last remains/ashes of their deceased father or not.

The counsel for petitioners stated that the petitioners cannot verify if the remains actually belonged to their father and they wished to get the DNA test conducted. The court has directed the state government to keep the ashes of the deceased in safe custody and to ensure that they are not tampered with. The court further directed that the DNA test, if viable, be conducted under its supervision, so that the petitioners are fully satisfied.

The two patients succumbed to COVID-19 at the hospital after which their bodies were shifted to the mortuary. While sending the bodies wrapped in PPE kits to their homes, the staff of the hospital had put wrong labels on the caskets, they officials had said earlier.

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