The police inquest report decides who committed the crime.

Courts have clarified that an inquest report only records the apparent cause of death; identifying and proving who is responsible happens later through full investigation and trial.

A post-mortem is only done if the police suspect murder.

The law requires a post-mortem in several situations, including any suicide or death of a woman within seven years of marriage, or simply if the officer feels it's necessary — not only in suspected murder cases.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 194

Police to enquire and report on suicide, etc

(1) When the officer in charge of a police station or some other police officer specially empowered by the State Government in that behalf receives information that a person has committed suicide, or has been killed by another or by an animal or by machinery or by an accident, or has died under circumstances raising a reasonable suspicion that some other person has committed an offence, he shall immediately give intimation thereof to the nearest Executive Magistrate empowered to hold inquests, and, unless otherwise directed by any rule made by the State Government, or by any general or special order of the District or Sub-divisional Magistrate, shall proceed to the place where the body of such deceased person is, and there, in the presence of two or more respectable inhabitants of the neighbourhood, shall make an investigation, and draw up a report of the apparent cause of death, describing such wounds, fractures, bruises, and other marks of injury as may be found on the body, and stating in what manner, or by what weapon or instrument (if any), such marks appear to have been inflicted.§

(2) The report shall be signed by such police officer and other persons, or by so many of them as concur therein, and shall be forwarded to the District Magistrate or the Sub-divisional Magistrate within twenty- four hours.§

(3) When—§

(i) the case involves suicide by a woman within seven years of her marriage; or§

(ii) the case relates to the death of a woman within seven years of her marriage in any circumstances raising a reasonable suspicion that some other person committed an offence in relation to such woman; or§

(iii) the case relates to the death of a woman within seven years of her marriage and any relative of the woman has made a request in this behalf; or§

(iv) there is any doubt regarding the cause of death; or§

(v) the police officer for any other reason considers it expedient so to do, he shall, subject to such rules as the State Government may prescribe in this behalf, forward the body, with a view to its being examined, to the nearest Civil Surgeon, or other qualified medical person appointed in this behalf by the State Government, if the state of the weather and the distance admit of its being so forwarded without risk of such putrefaction on the road as would render such examination useless.§

(4) The following Magistrates are empowered to hold inquests, namely, any District Magistrate or Sub- divisional Magistrate and any other Executive Magistrate specially empowered in this behalf by the State Government or the District Magistrate.§

Why this exists

This provision continues a rule going back to the colonial-era Code of Criminal Procedure (Section 174), designed to ensure that unnatural, suspicious, or violent deaths are properly documented before a body is buried, cremated, or otherwise disposed of. The special rules about women dying within seven years of marriage were added later, responding to concerns about dowry deaths and domestic violence, to make sure such deaths are not too quickly written off as accidents or suicides without a real medical check.

How courts read it

Under the earlier, similarly worded Section 174 CrPC, courts repeatedly clarified that an inquest report is meant only to record the apparent cause of death and is not the stage for deciding who is guilty — that determination happens later during full investigation and trial. Courts have also held that failure to conduct a proper inquest or post-mortem, especially in cases involving young married women, can be treated seriously and may invite scrutiny of the police investigation's fairness, though it does not automatically invalidate the entire prosecution.

Common misconceptions

Myth: The police inquest report decides who committed the crime.
Fact: Courts have clarified that an inquest report only records the apparent cause of death; identifying and proving who is responsible happens later through full investigation and trial.
Myth: A post-mortem is only done if the police suspect murder.
Fact: The law requires a post-mortem in several situations, including any suicide or death of a woman within seven years of marriage, or simply if the officer feels it's necessary — not only in suspected murder cases.