Mumbai, September 16
The body of a tribal woman was preserved in a salt pit for 44 days in Maharashtra’s Nandurbar by her father, who alleged that she had been raped before her death, and demanded that a second post-mortem be conducted on her, an official said.
The body of the 21-year-old woman was brought to the state-run JJ Hospital in Mumbai from Nandurbar district, located in the northwest corner of Maharashtra, on Thursday, he said.
“A committee of expert doctors is being formed and the post-mortem is likely to be conducted on Friday,” he said, adding that the procedure would be video-graphed.
The woman was found hanging at Vavi in Dhadgaon taluka of Nandurbar on August 1. The father had claimed that she was raped by four men, police officials said.
Following her death, the post-mortem was conducted on her at a state-run hospital in Nandurbar. The autopsy report ruled out foul play and a case of suicide was registered, the police official said, adding that three men were arrested in the case.
But the deceased woman’s family, including her father, alleged that police did not investigate the case properly, and hence they decided to preserve the body instead of cremating it, he said.
The family buried her body in a pit filled with salt at their village in Dhadgaon as they sought a second post-mortem to bring out the truth about her death, the official said.
Salt is used to inhibit the process of decomposition, “As the body was kept in the salt pit for weeks, the authorities agreed to conduct another post-mortem in Mumbai. Accordingly, the body was brought to JJ Hospital on Thursday afternoon,” he said.
