Sindh reconstitutes medical board for Mir Raza exhumation after family rejects earlier panel

KARACHI: The Sindh Health Department on Friday reconstituted the medical board tasked with overseeing the exhumation and fresh medico-legal examination of businessman Mir Raza, issuing a fresh notification in compliance with a court order amid an ongoing dispute over the composition of the earlier panel.

The development came hours after the exhumation process was thrown into uncertainty when Mir Raza’s family refused to allow the procedure to proceed under a previously reconstituted board, insisting that only the original medical panel appointed for the case was acceptable.

According to a notification issued by the Sindh Health Department, the new board has been constituted in compliance with the order of the Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate-XXI (East), Karachi, and subsequent departmental directives relating to the exhumation.

The board has been tasked with supervising the exhumation of Mir Raza, son of Mir Hassan Ali Khan, who is buried in a graveyard adjacent to Rehmania Masjid on Tariq Road within the jurisdiction of Ferozabad police station. The exhumation will be conducted in the presence of the judicial magistrate.

Eight-member board

The newly constituted board will be headed by Professor Dr Naseem Ahmed, Head of the Department of Pathology at Dow Medical College, Dow University of Health Sciences, who will serve as the pathologist.

Other members of the board are Dr Farah Waseem, Assistant Professor and acting in-charge of the Department of Forensic Medicine at Sindh Medical College, Jinnah Sindh Medical University, as forensic expert; Amir Hassan Khan, forensic identification expert from the CPLC’s Shanakht Project; Dr Sirchand, additional police surgeon; Dr Kamran Khan, medico-legal officer at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC); Dr Daniyal Mirza, medico-legal officer at JPMC, who will document the case; Dr Muhammad Yaseen, administrative in-charge of the Karachi Police Surgeon’s Office, and Dr Summaiya Syed, police surgeon Karachi, who has been appointed convener of the board.

The notification also authorises the board to co-opt any additional expert if required.

Copies of the order have been forwarded to the district and sessions judge, the judicial magistrate, the principals of Dow Medical College and Sindh Medical College, the police surgeon, SSP East, the relevant station house officers and the investigation officer.

Fresh notification after dispute

The latest notification follows dramatic scenes earlier on Friday when Mir Raza’s family refused to permit the exhumation after objecting to changes made to the medical board.

The family, through their counsel Jibran Nasir, submitted an application before the magistrate at the graveyard, arguing that the exhumation should only be conducted by the medical board originally constituted for the case rather than a panel that had been altered later.

The exhumation had been scheduled after the Sindh government constituted a medical board to carry out a fresh medico-legal examination. The magistrate and board members had reached the graveyard and preparations were completed, while police established a security cordon around the site.

However, the process stalled after the family rejected the revised board and refused permission for the exhumation to proceed.

Speaking to reporters, Nasir said the family would not accept the reconstituted panel under any circumstances and had formally informed the magistrate of its objections.

He said Mir Raza’s father had also appealed to Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to personally intervene in the matter.

Court-ordered exhumation

The exhumation was ordered by a judicial magistrate after Mir Raza’s father petitioned the court, arguing that the original post-mortem examination contained serious shortcomings that warranted a fresh forensic investigation.

The prosecution did not oppose the request, following which the magistrate approved the exhumation.

The case drew widespread attention after Karachi Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed identified what she described as 14 major deficiencies in the original post-mortem examination.

In a letter addressed to the SSP East, she pointed to the absence of gunpowder residue analysis, missing X-rays, failure to examine the skull and neck internally, inadequate forensic photography, lack of DNA collection and shortcomings in documenting bullet entry and exit wounds and the projectile’s trajectory.

The investigation team, however, rejected the criticism, maintaining that Dr Summaiya had not personally conducted the original autopsy and that the final cause of death could only be established after completion of all legal and forensic procedures.

With the issuance of Friday’s notification, authorities have once again reconstituted the medical board responsible for the exhumation. It remains unclear when the fresh exhumation process will now take place and whether the family will accept the newly notified panel.