SHC orders verification for medico-legal certificates

Such certificates in criminal cases to be signed by three health, police officers

HYDERABAD:

The persisting controversies surrounding medico-legal certificates in criminal cases have long posed challenges for litigants and the judiciary alike.

To address this issue, the Sindh High Court (SHC) has mandated that such certificates must now bear the signatures of three different concerned officers.

Furthermore, medico-legal officers are required to capture coloured photographs of injuries, ensuring these visuals become a part of the official record.

The directive was issued on Monday by Justice Amjad Ali Sahito's bench at the Hyderabad Circuit, responding to a petition filed by Muhammad Siddique and others from Tando Allahyar district challenging a medico-legal certificate.

The judge not only introduced new measures to authenticate certificates but also placed restrictions on lower courts and the police, prohibiting the acceptance of certificates that do not comply with the order.

The order explicitly states that any violation by medical officers will hold the Health Secretary accountable, and any breach by Investigating Officers (IOs) will make the Inspector General of Sindh Police responsible.

The bench emphasised the need to safeguard innocent people falsely implicated in criminal cases through fraudulent medical certificates.

Often, such certificates and postmortem reports issued by Medico-Legal Officers (MLOs) are contested by litigants before medical boards.

Justice Sahito commended the Sindh Health Secretary for addressing the issue in light of the court's observations, citing a February 16 office order from the Sindh Health Department.

The order has made it mandatory for MLOs to have certificates countersigned by police surgeons and medical superintendents of the respective health facilities.

Additional police surgeons and additional medical superintendents are also authorised to sign these legal documents.

According to the court's order, all civil judges and judicial magistrates in the province will not accept medico-legal certificates and postmortem reports unless they are countersigned. The same directive extends to IOs of the Sindh police. The SHC's registrar has been tasked with circulating the order to all district and session judges for compliance by magistrates, with a copy sent to the IGP Sindh.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th 2024.