Sometimes, for the peace to be alive, the dead had to be disturbed, says the Madras High Court

The judge ordered the High Court Registry to issue a certified copy of the DNA profiling report to the couple. | Photo credit: FILE PHOTO

The Madras High Court on Wednesday (October 14, 2026) witnessed a poignant moment as a couple waited with bated breath for the results of DNA profiling carried out by exhuming a body from a burial ground in Erode city, but broke down when the judge read that the test confirmed the body was that of their son, who was studying at the National Institute of Technology (NIT).

Justice V. Lakshminarayanan felt that it was very difficult to tell the parents that the DNA extracted from the femur of the body matched the DNA from their blood samples. It was a tough moment for everyone in the courtroom, including Additional Public Prosecutor Arun Anbumani, to see the disappointment on the faces of the parents who expected the results to be different.

According to a written request filed by the youth’s father, a native of Erode currently living in Chennai, his family was informed that their son had died in a road accident in Odisha on February 28, 2026. A post-mortem was conducted at the Sub-Divisional Hospital in Bonai, Sundargarh district of Orissa, after which the body was sent to Tamil Nadu for burial.

It was buried at the corporate burial ground in Erode on 2 March 2026. Subsequently, the parents received a post-mortem report which stated that the body had all 16 intact teeth in each jaw. The couple were shocked to read the news as their son’s third molars (wisdom teeth) were removed on three different dates between May 29 and July 1, 2024.

Further, the post-mortem report made no mention of the injuries their son sustained near his eyes and below his eyebrows due to an accident while playing cricket in January 2025. They said he underwent minor surgery for these injuries and the scars were very visible. The cub’s mother also said the shape of the dead body’s ears did not seem like her son’s.

When Justice Lakshminarayanan ordered the police to exhume the body for DNA profiling, she wrote: “Though the law prevents the exhumation of bodies, sometimes to keep the peace alive, the dead have to be disturbed. The mother thinks her son is still alive… If DNA profiling is done, there is a possibility that it would give peace of mind, which eludes the parents so far.”

As directed by the court, the body was exhumed under the supervision of government doctors in Erode and DNA was extracted from the femur. The Chennai Regional Forensic Laboratory preferred the DNA profiling test based on the directions issued by the court and submitted its report to the court on Wednesday.

After informing the parents that they may require counseling to overcome the loss of their son, the judge ordered the Supreme Court Registry to release a certified copy of the DNA profiling report to them. The couple requested that the news be reported to authorities in the United States because their son was an American citizen by birth. Studied engineering degree at NIT Rourkela under the Direct Admission Abroad (DASA) programme.

Published – 15 Oct 2026 0:34 IST