No inquest needed in Covid-19 cases: Maharashtra government

The state home department issued a circular stating that inquest – the judicial inquiry by police in any case of unnatural death – in the case of coronavirus fatalities

The state home department issued a circular stating that inquest – the judicial inquiry by police in any case of unnatural death – in the case of coronavirus fatalities need not be conducted. The decision has been taken to prevent the infection from spreading among police personnel, officers and health workers amid the Covid-19 outbreak. “We had received a request to waive off the procedure. There is risk of infection through contact even from death bodies of an infected person,” said a home department official.

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The circular stated that inquest will be waived off until further order. The state government has used its powers under Disaster Management Act and Epidemic Diseases Act 1897, imposed in the wake of the outbreak of the pandemic.