The human tissue act and its relevance to forensic practice in Sri Lanka

Forensic practitioners essentially deal with the dead and assist legal fraternity in unravelling purported mysteries surrounding deaths. In doing so, they perform autopsies, collect and store human tissues for analysis, manipulate human tissues for scientific scrutiny and later dispose of these collected tissues. The authority for post-mortem examination and allied pertinent investigations is vested on the practitioner through either a court order or the Inquirer's order .The authority in issuing such an order by the inquirer or court in Sri Lanka is derived through the criminal procedure code Act. However, the legal framework does not specify logistics or manner in which the forensic practitioners should collect, store or analyse samples and then dispose of them. In routine practice it is customary that the consent from the next of kin of the deceased is also taken for post mortem examination and for collection of tissues even in the presence of a court or inquirer's order.