Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
Amid outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Maharashtra, the State government on Tuesday said that the police can decide not to conduct inquest after the death of a suspected coronavirus patient at hospital.
A Government Resolution issued by Deputy Secretary Shirish Mohod stated that as the doctors and paramedical staff as well as police personnel can contract coronavirus infection during the inquest procedure, this waiver was being granted. In Maharashtra, the number of coronavirus cases in the state crossed 1,000 on Tuesday, while 64 persons have died.
Inquest Panchanama is an inquiry by a coroner's court into the cause of a death. Under section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code, it is mandatory for the police to conduct inquest in the case of unnatural death after receiving report from the doctor.
But in view of the present situation, there is fear that doctors, nurses and police personnel may contract the infection during inquest (which can involve autopsy), the GR said.
Therefore, the police officers can decide not to conduct inquest after consulting concerned doctors when a suspected COVID-19 patient dies at hospital, it said.
A senior police official said that the GR has given much relief to the police personnel. “For performing inquest panchanama, the police have to check the body of the deceased person and also need two witnessed while filing the report,” he said.
The GR will be in operation as long as provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, and Disaster Management Act, 2005, are in force in the state, it added.
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