Two Years, No Justice: Mamata Govt Moves to Review Faizan Ahmed Autopsy, Mother Opposes
Despite the formation of an SIT and a homicide probe, Bengal’s case over Faizan Ahmed’s murder is still unresolved. State counsels now want a fresh medical board review, which Faizan’s mother calls a bid to derail justice. She has refused to allow another postmortem
Kolkata: The lawyers of the Mamata Banerjee government want a medical board to review the two autopsies in the Faizan Ahmed murder case.
On September 24, after 15 months, the hearing on the murder case of IITian Faizan Ahmed resumed at the Calcutta High Court. Surprisingly, the state counsels prayed to the court of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh to review the two autopsies by setting up a medical board.
The first postmortem done at Midnapore Medical College had mentioned that Faizan Ahmed, a third-year mechanical student, had died by suicide. However, in the second autopsy done at Calcutta Medical College, it was discovered that there was a hemorrhage, and it was a case of homicide.
In the report, the court also set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by an IPS officer. Later, the division bench confirmed that further investigation would proceed based on the outcome of the second postmortem and continued with the formation of the SIT.
On October 14, 2023, the partially decomposed body of Faizan Ahmed was recovered from the hostel of IIT Kharagpur.
The order of September 24 also mentioned that the report of forensic expert Ashok Gupta (submitted to the court in May 2024) has been kept on record.
“We have opposed it and said that the second postmortem was uphold by the division bench. And the bench of the then Chief Justice had approved the formation of the SIT in it too,” Faizan Ahmed’s counsel Anirudha Mitra told eNewsroom.
Mitra also informed the court that they had presented all the recordings and opposed the formation of the medical board.
Does the state stand with victims or with perpetrators? Asks mother
In 2023, Rehana had written to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, urging her to intervene and help secure justice in the case. However, while Mamata Banerjee spoke publicly on two other cases of institutional murder—one involving a Jadavpur University student and another of a medical student at RG Kar—she did not make any statement on the murder of IITian Faizan Ahmed.
“I have a question for Mamata Banerjee. It has been two years, and we did not get justice. And then we see that the state prays to set up a medical board. Why do they want to review the autopsy? To change the outcome of the second autopsy? As the mother, I do not allow any other postmortem of my son,” said Rehana Ahmed, the grieving mother.
“Since the death of my son, we have never received support from the Bengal police or state counsels. Is this how you treat the family of a genius who was murdered in Bengal?”
Significantly, the state lawyers had also opposed the formation of the SIT and argued to continue with the Bengal police, but the division bench had gone ahead with the single bench decision.
“Does the state stand with victims or with perpetrators?” questioned Rehana.
The court has fixed November 6, 2025, as the next hearing date in the case.
