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IDENTITY OF THE BODY PARTS

39. This now brings us to a vital segment of the case which had to be proved by the prosecution i.e. identity of the body parts recovered on 29th May, 1979 and 2nd August, 1979 as that of Namita. To link the body parts to Namita, the prosecution had examined a number of witnesses. Heavy reliance was placed by the prosecution on the report of the postmortem examination conducted by Dr. Rilleret (since dead) and PWBG-4 G. Voordecker, Forensic Pathologist. The prosecution also relied on the evidence of PWBG-5 Lambert Claudine and Stomatologist PWBG-20 Wackens Georges, who had examined the dental specifics of the body and the report of finger/palm prints experts. The other witnesses relied upon by the prosecution were PWUK-1 Smt. Chandermukhi Lochab and PW-48 Jagdish Singh Lochab, i.e. mother and father of Namita. They gave description of certain identification/special marks which Namita had on her person. According to Jagdish Singh Lochab (PW-48), Namita was about 5'-4" of height, the hair of her head were black, she had 31 teeth instead of 32 as one tooth had been extracted at young age; she had a scar on her right knee, had a fracture of her left wrist and had a smallpox inoculation mark on her left upper arm. PWBG-4 Voordecker Guy has concluded its report as under:-

46. The High Court thereafter took up the issue with regard to the missing incisor tooth. We have noticed earlier that PW-48 Mr. Lochab had stated that Namita had 31 teeth instead of 32 as one tooth had been extracted when she was of a very young age. The High Court notices that in his earlier statement, he had stated that another tooth had been fixed at the place of the tooth so extracted. This was done so that no anomaly existed in her denture. This witness was also not able to speak with certainty about the Namita having a scar on her right knee. The High Court also took note of the fact that this witness did not mention any of these identification marks at the time when he had lodged the missing report. He had rather stated that he was not aware of any visible marks or scars or other peculiarities of Namita. He was not even sure about the colour of Namita's hair as he had stated that her hair were dark brown. Contrasted with this, the evidence of the mother PWUK-1 was that one of the Namita's front tooth was missing. However, there was no gap in between the incisors. She had stated that Namita had a scar mark on her left knee. She also stated that Namita had three inoculation marks on her shoulder. The High Court notices that this witness was, however, not able to give details of any identification marks on her other children. This, in our opinion, would be sufficient to justify the conclusion reached by the High Court that neither the mother PWUK-1 nor the father PW-48 of Namita were exactly aware/sure of any identification marks of Namita. The High Court, therefore, observed that a possibility can not be ruled out that these witnesses may have given these marks after the disclosure of such marks in the postmortem examination's report. In fact, it may be noteworthy that no vaccination/inoculation marks have been found by the doctors, who conducted the postmortem examination.