Kasganj Custodial Death: 3 Months On, Allahabad HC Orders Second Autopsy

The police had claimed that Altaf, 21, had hung himself from a pipe in the washroom of the police station.

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday, 10 February, ordered a second autopsy of the body of Altaf Miyan, whose death in police custody in Uttar Pradesh's Kasganj had elicited widespread outrage in November 2021.

The direction for a second post-mortem by AIIMS, Delhi was issued by a bench comprising of Justices Anjani Kumar Mishra and Deepak Verma, who had been hearing a petition moved by Altaf's father, Chand Miyan.

The plea had sought a CBI inquiry into the death, and a second autopsy that is conducted outside the Uttar Pradesh due to the alleged involvement of the UP police in the death.

"We therefore, direct that the body of the deceased, Altaf shall be exhumed forthwith in the presence of Superintendent of Police, Kasganj. The body after it has been exhumed shall be sealed and immediately transported to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, where a post-mortem examination of the exhumed body shall be conducted in presence of a team of doctors."

Allahabad High Court

The the entire process of unsealing and post-mortem and the subsequent sealing of the body will be recorded, as per the court's directions. The entire exercise should be completed within period of 10 days.

"This order has been passed because it is the case of the petitioner based upon photographs brought on record, wherein the deceased, Altaf is shown to have hung himself from a water pipe, which was installed only three feet above the ground of the toilet," the high court stated,

What Had Happened?

21-year-old Altaf, a resident of Nagla Sayyad Ahroli had been accused of running away with a girl. He had been taken to the Sadar police station for questioning on 8 November in Kasganj, where he had allegedly died while in custody.

Superintendent of Police Rohan Botre had narrated the account of the incident as follows:

"Altaf, son of Chand Mian, was brought on the charge of running away with a girl. When the police were interrogating him, he asked the policeman to go to the bathroom. The police officer sent him to the bathroom inside the lock-up, and after a while, when he did not come out, a worker went to check. He had tightened the hood of his jacket around his throat, by tying it to a pipe."

The police has further claimed that the autopsy confirmed death by hanging.

However, the police's account has prompted a number of questions about the incident.

Visuals of the police station washroom where Altaf allegedly hung himself showed a pipe that is approximately 2 feet long, from which the police claim that Altaf had tied himself using the drawstrings of his jacket.

The question that immediately arises is how a plastic pipe, merely two feet long, could have taken the weight of the deceased – as the police has claimed.

Moreover, the pipe is located on the wall at a point that would approximate half the height of the deceased.

Further, the pipe had reportedly come off from the wall, and had allegedly been fixed to its original position again. The occurrence has raised concerns of tampering with an active crime scene.