Inquest Report and Postmortem in India: How BNSS Sections 194 and 196 Work

When a death is unnatural, sudden or suspicious, the body does not go straight to the mortuary and the family does not simply collect it. A statutory process intervenes, and it has two distinct stages that are constantly confused with each other: the inquest, which is a legal inquiry into the apparent cause of death, and the postmortem, which is a medical examination of the body.

The inquest is conducted by a police officer or a magistrate. The postmortem is conducted by a doctor. They produce two different documents, at two different times, for two different purposes — and families waiting at a mortuary are rarely told which one they are waiting for. This article explains both, under the provisions that replaced the Criminal Procedure Code on 1 July 2024.

"Families almost always ask me for 'the postmortem report' when what is holding up the release of the body is the inquest. They are separate documents on separate timelines, and knowing which one you are chasing — and who holds it — usually saves several days."
— Dr. Namit Gupta, Senior Medico-Legal Expert

What an Inquest Is

An inquest is a statutory preliminary inquiry conducted by a lawful authority to ascertain the apparent cause, manner and circumstances of an unnatural, suspicious or sudden death. It is emphatically not a trial and not a finding of guilt. Its purpose is to record what the body and the scene disclose, at the earliest point, before anything is disturbed.

Indian law provides two forms of inquest, and which applies depends on how the person died.

Police Inquest: Section 194 BNSS

Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 replaced Section 174 of the CrPC. It applies where a police officer receives information that a person has died:

• by suicide
• having been killed by another person, by an animal, by machinery, or by an accident
• in circumstances raising a reasonable suspicion that some other person committed an offence

On receiving such information, the officer must immediately inform the nearest Executive Magistrate and proceed to the place where the body is. The inquest is then conducted at the scene, in the presence of local witnesses — usually two respectable inhabitants of the locality, known as panch witnesses, which is why the document is often called a panchnama.

The report must describe the apparent cause of death and the condition of the body, including any wounds, fractures, bruises or other marks of injury, and must state the possible means or instruments by which they appear to have been inflicted. It is signed by the officer and the witnesses and forwarded to the Magistrate within 24 hours.

Magisterial Inquest: Section 196 BNSS

Section 196 BNSS replaced Section 176 CrPC and provides for inquiry by a Magistrate into the cause of death. It operates alongside, and in certain cases instead of, the police inquest.

A magisterial inquest is mandatory in the categories where a police inquiry would lack credibility because the police themselves are implicated — most importantly custodial deaths, deaths in police custody or in circumstances where the police were involved, and custodial disappearances. It is also used in dowry deaths and other sensitive cases, and a Magistrate may hold one in addition to the police investigation.

The purpose is judicial oversight. Section 196 exists precisely so that the authority inquiring into a death is independent of the authority that may be responsible for it.

Audio-Video Recording

In sensitive cases — particularly custodial deaths, custodial disappearances and allegations of rape in custody arising under Sections 194 and 196 BNSS — audio-video recording of the inquest proceedings, the scene inspection and the postmortem examination is strongly emphasised through NHRC guidelines, judicial directions and evolving investigative standards. Families in custodial-death cases should ask, at the outset, whether the postmortem is being videographed, and should record the request in writing if it is refused.

The Postmortem: a Separate Document

The inquest establishes the apparent cause of death from external examination and circumstances. The postmortem — the autopsy — establishes the medical cause of death by internal examination. The inquest report is prepared by the police or magistrate; the postmortem report is prepared by the doctor.

The sequence in practice is:

1. Death reported; police reach the scene
2. Inquest conducted at the scene, panchnama drawn, body identified by relatives
3. Body sent to the mortuary with a police requisition and a copy of the inquest report
4. Postmortem conducted by a government doctor or authorised forensic specialist
5. Body released to the family, usually the same day
6. Viscera preserved where poisoning is suspected, and sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory
7. Final postmortem report issued — often provisional at first, with the final opinion reserved pending FSL and histopathology results

This is the source of the most common misunderstanding. The body is generally released within hours. The report may take weeks or months, because where viscera have gone to the FSL, the doctor cannot give a final opinion on the cause of death until those results return. A family told "the postmortem is done" has not been told that the report exists.

What a Postmortem Report Contains

• Identification particulars, and how the body was identified and by whom
• Details of the police requisition, the inquest report and the constable escorting the body
• Date and time of commencement and conclusion of the examination, and the lighting conditions
• External examination — build, rigor mortis, postmortem staining, decomposition changes, and every injury described by site, size, shape, margins, depth and direction
• Internal examination, system by system
• Specimens preserved, with details of sealing and handover
• Opinion as to cause of death, and whether it is final or reserved pending reports
• Name, designation, registration number and signature of the doctor

How Families Obtain These Documents

• The inquest report is a police document forming part of the case file. A copy is ordinarily obtained through the investigating officer or, once the case reaches court, through the court.
• The postmortem report is obtained from the hospital or mortuary that conducted it, generally through the investigating officer. Where the death is not linked to a pending criminal case, an application to the hospital records department is the usual route.
• Where a copy is refused, the options include a written application to the Superintendent of Police, an application to the court seized of the matter, and — for records held by a public hospital — the Right to Information Act.
• For hospital medical records, distinct from the postmortem, Regulation 1.3.2 of the Code of Medical Ethics Regulations, 2002 requires that records requested by a patient, an authorised attendant or a legal authority be issued within 72 hours.

When a Second Postmortem Is Sought

Families dissatisfied with a postmortem — typically where custodial violence or foul play is alleged and the first report attributes death to natural causes — may seek a second postmortem. There is no automatic right to one. It is ordinarily obtained by applying to the court or the district administration, and the application must be made quickly: decomposition and the first examination itself progressively limit what a second can establish. Where a second postmortem is contemplated, the body should not be cremated and the request should be made in writing the same day.

Conclusion

The inquest and the postmortem are the two documents on which almost every unnatural-death case in India eventually turns, and they are produced in the first twenty-four hours, usually while the family is least equipped to ask questions.

The points worth knowing in advance are few. The inquest is the police or magistrate's document under Section 194 or 196 BNSS; the postmortem is the doctor's. A custodial death requires a magisterial inquest, not a police one. Videography should be asked for in custodial cases, in writing. The body comes back quickly; the report does not, and that delay is usually the FSL rather than obstruction. And if a second postmortem is going to be sought, it has to be sought immediately.