Dear Editor,
On July 6, 2014, a young Guyanese citizen, Rohan Persaud, was cremated six days after he died, without the cause of death ever being verified. That is, the Guyana Police Force allowed his body to be released without requesting a pathologist to conduct a post-mortem examination, in accordance with the relevant sections of the Coroners Act.
To date, I have written twice to the office of the Police Commissioner, Mr Seelall Persaud, enquiring as to the explanation for the action (or lack of action) of the police in this matter.
I now write publicly as I am yet to get a reply. I am under no illusion about whether I shall get a valid explanation from a police force in a republic where a minority government may suspend parliament, and at least one newspaper may spy on civilians arguing it is justified according to the tenets of journalism.
These occurrences are not unrelated or unique. Indeed, they point to a failure of the state as fundamental rights evaporate: the right of a dead to have an autopsy, the right of a voter to access parliament, and the right of a civilian to enjoy free private speech. It is not normal for a citizen of a republic to pass out of existence without anyone knowing how or why he or she died.
If a citizen disappears, so does a republic. Self-preservation requires a republic to have a vested interest in verifying both the life and death of each citizen, including one such as Mr Rohan Persaud who died an unnatural or suspicious death. My advice to Guyanese people is that whenever one is told a loved one committed suicide, ask the police to get an autopsy done.
Indeed, the constitution says this: “Where an unnatural death is reported to, or comes to the knowledge of, any member of the Police Force, he shall forthwith cause a report thereof to be made to the coroner” (Section 5, Coroner’s Act).
This law prohibits murder from being disguised as suicide. Said another way, it is to prevent Guyanese from bribing state officials such as police officers, to avoid criminal investigations and cover up possible crimes committed against others, where the cause of death is unclear.
After all, it is unusual for the police to overlook post mortems for unnatural deaths. Or is it not? Have parliamentarians such as Ms Cathy Hughes from the AFC, who have raised concerns about the supposed rise of suicide in Guyana considered that perhaps since post mortems are not being done, some murders are converted into suicide?
Yours faithfully,
Rakesh Rampertab
