Exhumation Autopsy
Definition
Disinterment and post-mortem of a previously buried body, ordered by the Executive Magistrate under BNSS Section 196(4).
- Legal basis
- BNSS Section 196(4)
- Authorising officer
- Executive Magistrate
- Procedure
- Disinterment followed by post-mortem examination
- Jurisdiction
- India
Common questions
Why would investigators order an exhumation autopsy after a body is already buried?+
New evidence, a change in the suspected cause of death, a court order, or a family or prosecutorial request can all prompt a second examination that was not possible or not requested at the time of the original burial.
Does decomposition after burial limit what an exhumation autopsy can find?+
It can. Advanced decomposition may destroy soft tissue evidence, but bone, some organ tissue, and toxicological residues can still yield useful findings depending on the time elapsed and burial conditions.
Related terms
- Clinical (Academic) Autopsy
- A post-mortem performed in a hospital to confirm clinical diagnosis or for teaching, with the consent of the next of kin. Not...
- Medico-Legal Autopsy
- A court-mandated post-mortem examination performed on a body whose death is unnatural, suspicious or unexplained, conducted on requisition from the investigating officer...
- Provisional Opinion
- The on-the-day cause-of-death statement issued before viscera analysis. Replaced by the final report once the chemical analyst's report comes back.
- Virtopsy (Virtual Autopsy)
- Non-destructive post-mortem imaging using CT and MRI. Pilot programmes exist at NFSU and AIIMS; not yet a replacement for conventional autopsy in...
- Viscera
- The standard set of organs and fluids collected at a suspected poisoning autopsy in India: stomach with contents, a length of upper...