When I worked at the Veterinary Division, Ministry Of Agriculture in 1966, an unusual
incident took place. One of the technicians rushed into the office and announced that the body
of Tiwari Maraj, a member of the staff had just been taken to the Public Hospital in
Georgetown, after he had committed suicide. It was quite a shock to us because Tiwari, who
was on vacation, seemed to be an easy going person and did not show any tendency to do
such a thing. However, we were told that he was having domestic problems. Shortly after, I
heard one member of the staff making plans for the funeral.
A few members of the staff accompanied me to the hospital. We identified ourselves to
the police officer and were allowed to see the body. One of the technicians was quite moved
and started to speak to the body: “Tiwari, why did you do something like this? Could you not
get counseling?” The police constable then asked if we were willing to identify the body and all
of us did so. He then showed us a picture which was taken from the wallet of the deceased.
Then we had our doubts. The picture did not appear to be that of Tiwari. We started to observe
the body more carefully and realized that we had all made a mistake. It would appear that we
went to the hospital with the preconceived idea that Tiwari had died. We did not know the
deceased but he did have some resemblance of Tiwari.
Tiwari returned to work the following week and had some fun at our expense. That
incident clearly illustrated to me that mistakes can be made. I am sure that such mistakes must
have resulted in incorrect court decisions.
