HC issues rule on appointing female Doms for autopsy of female bodies

The High Court has issued a rule, asking why directives should not be given to appoint female Doms in hospitals across Bangladesh that conduct post-mortems on female bodies.

The rule was issued on Sunday (July 19) by a High Court bench comprising Justice Fahmida Kader and Justice Md Asif Hasan .

Advocate Md Monir Uddin moved the writ petition on behalf of the petitioner. The writ was filed in public interest, seeking a directive for the appointment of at least one female Dom in every hospital where autopsies are conducted to ensure the dignity of deceased women. The Health Secretary and the Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) have been made respondents .

Earlier, an application was submitted to the DGHS requesting the appointment of one female Dom in each post-mortem hospital. The application argued that Bangladesh is a state with strong religious values, where Islam and other religions have provisions for maintaining the privacy and dignity of a woman's body. While a post-mortem is a legal process, the touch or presence of a male stranger is not acceptable in the case of a woman .

The petition further stated that families of women who die in road accidents or other tragic incidents are already under profound emotional trauma. Learning that a male assistant performed the autopsy can cause further distress. The presence of female assistants would provide a degree of solace to the grieving families and would be a timely step in line with modern times, where women are working alongside men in almost every profession. It would also help eliminate discrimination and ensure the right to personal dignity and privacy even after death, as per the Human Rights Charter .

To underscore the need for security in morgues, the petition cited several high-profile cases of sexual abuse involving deceased women, including incidents at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital and Suhrawardy Hospital in Bangladesh, as well as a case in Ohio, USA . The legal notice received no response, leading to the filing of the writ petition with the High Court.