VIEWPOINTS

Postmortem examination can make or mar a case. Many of them are done with utter disregard for law and the dignity of the dead. While the way a body is dissected is often appalling, reports that come out of such examinations – sometimes inherently flawed, sometimes manipulated – misguide the investigation and cripple the prosecution in medico-legal cases. Government mortuaries with no adequate preservation methods or surgical equipment are unbearable even for seasoned forensic experts, but that does not mean doctors can make sanitary workers do the examination. Such doctors should be brought to book, not just for shirking responsibility, but for subverting justice.

Little has been done so far to rescue child domestic workers and to punish their employers; there is a poor track record of enforcement of laws. There is an urgent need to make child labor a cognizable offence and to strictly enforce, the law to bring offenders to book. Unless we, the middle class demur at employing children in our homes, the law can only serve a limited purpose. We should also speak out in our own circles against those employing children as domestic help and report any such cases to childline or the local child welfare committee.