The Parliament’s Judiciary Committee has approved to give Maldives Police Service the authority conduct post mortem procedures against the wishes of the family. The proposed amendments were approved by the Judiciary Committee last week.
The proposed amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law states that the police may carry out post mortem procedures in the investigations of criminal acts and suspicious deaths even if the family of the deceased does not consent to the procedure. The amendment states that the procedure must be carried out in the presence of a medical doctor and with the assistance of a forensic pathologist. Such post mortem reports will be admissable in court, said the amendment. The procedures to follow when carrying out the post mortem process must be established and gazetted once the amendment is ratified, said the bill.
Other changes brought to the Criminal Procedure Act by the Judiciary Committee include extending the period granted to the police to question a detained individual without a lawyer to 48 hours instead of 24 hours.
