Govt orders Palestine envoy’s fresh autopsy as kin alleviate foul play

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The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that it would facilitate fresh postmortem of India’s envoy to Palestine Mukul Arya, who died in Ramallah on Sunday, in accordance with the wishes of his family.

His family had earlier approached the court, seeking inquiry into the “suspicious circumstances” under which he died and prayed for constitution of a panel of doctors at AIIMS for his postmortem on arrival in India.

During the hearing of the case, the counsel representing the family told the court that they would not be pressing for inquiry at this stage and would be satisfied if the postmortem was video-graphed.

In the order, Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar said: “Looking at the facts and circumstances of the case… let the postmortem be video-graphed and the same be made part of the record.”

In a petition before the court, Arya’s mother Roshan Lal Arya said she disputed the Palestinian Ministry of Justice’s report in which the cause of the death of her son had been cited as ‘myocardial infarction’.

Arya, 37, had joined the Indian Foreign Service in 2008 and started serving as India’s representative at Ramallah in April 2017. He had last visited his family in India in January this year and spoken to them on video call from Palestine on March 3.

According to the petition, there was no contact between Arya and his family in India between March 3 and March 6, the date he was declared dead. Following the death, the petition stated the family made multiple representations to the government agencies alleging “foul play” but did not receive any response.

“The deceased’s body is due to arrive in India from Ramallah at Palestine. It has already been over a week from the death of the deceased. It is imperative that a second postmortem is conduct(ed) at the earliest in order to ascertain the actual cause of death of the deceased, before the body decomposes any further,” argued the petition.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday tweeted: “Deeply shocked to learn about the passing away of India’s Representative at Ramallah, Shri Mukul Arya. He was a bright and talented officer with so much before him. My heart goes out to his family and loved ones. Om Shanti.”

MEA official spokesman Arindam Bagchi on Tuesday said: “We have seen some irresponsible comments on the passing away of Mukul Arya, representative of India in Ramallah. He died of natural causes. We urge that the tragic demise of a young diplomat be treated with decency and respect.”

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