Punjab and Haryana High Court orders PGI autopsy in Mansa death case

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered a fresh post-mortem examination of Daljit Singh, a 35-year-old man from Bhamme Kalan village in Mansa district whose death on 27 October 2026 set off protests over Punjab's drug problem, and has held that a dignified cremation is a right. The court directed that the second autopsy be done at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, and barred political parties, politicians and other groups from attending or interfering with the last rites. On Wednesday, 4 November 2026, Justice Sanjay Vashisth modified an earlier direction for a cremation in Chandigarh after Daljit Singh's wife and mother asked for it to be held in his native village. He was cremated at Bhamme Kalan on Thursday, 5 November 2026, under police protection.

The case sits where two sensitive questions in Punjab meet: how the state counts and responds to deaths linked to drugs, and how far police and politicians should be involved in a family's grief. The two sides gave very different accounts of the death. According to reports, his sister said he died of an overdose and asked that drug supply in the area be stopped. The Mansa police said the body had been left by someone at the roadside, registered a murder case on the statement of his father, and said three main accused had been rounded up. Police also registered a second case of attempt to murder over an attack on a police team, and said some "misinformation" had been spread.

The death quickly became political. The Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, said the way Mansa Police moved the body raised serious questions. Congress MP Charanjit Singh Channi joined the protest in Mansa and alleged that police were trying to show the death as a murder so that it would not be counted as an overdose death. The police have not accepted that charge, and the cause of death has not been officially settled.

By ordering a second post-mortem at PGIMER, a central institution in Chandigarh, the High Court moved the medical examination away from the district where the dispute began. That is a step courts take when one side doubts the first examination, and it gives both the family and the police a report from an institution neither controls.

The court's language on cremation is also notable. It treated a dignified cremation as a right, and used that to keep the funeral itself out of politics while still letting the family choose where to hold it.

Peepals timeline: Daljit Singh died on Tuesday, 27 October 2026, and police took the body as the family protested. Two FIRs were registered and three people arrested, according to police. His sister then went to the High Court, which ordered a fresh post-mortem at PGIMER and a cremation in Chandigarh. On Wednesday, 4 November, the court modified that order on the plea of his wife and mother. On Thursday, 5 November, the body was taken from PGIMER to Bhamme Kalan and cremated in the village, ten days after the death by our count from the reported dates.

Short-term: The family has been able to hold the last rites at home, and the PGIMER report will become a key document in the murder investigation and in any further hearing.

Long-term: The outcome of the second post-mortem may shape how the case is prosecuted and how the death is counted. The order may also be cited in future disputes where families, police and political parties clash over a body.

Who is affected: Daljit Singh's family; the residents of Bhamme Kalan and Mansa; the Mansa police and the three people arrested; and political parties in Punjab, which were told to stay away from the funeral.

Questions and Answers