(1) If any unnatural or sudden death occur, or any corpse be found, within the bounds of any village the Police- patel shall forthwith assemble an inquest, to be composed of two or more intelligent persons belonging to the village or neighbourhood, who shall investigate the causes of death and all the circumstances of the case, and make a written report of the same, which the Police-patel shall cause to be forth with delivered to the Police-officer in charge of the District Police-station within the limits of which the village is situated.
(2) Any person who, on being called upon by the Police- patel to serve as a member of such inquest, shall without justifiable cause refuse or neglect to do so, shall be liable, on conviction before a Magistrate, to punishment not exceeding fifty rupees, as fine, or, in default of payment, to imprisonment for one month.
(3) If the results of the inquest afford reason for supposing that death has been unlawfully occasioned, the Police-patel shall give immediate notice to the officer in charge of the District Police-station within the limits of which his village is situated, and, if the corpse can be forwarded without the risk of putrefaction by the way, shall at once forward it to the nearest Civil Surgeon or other medical officer appointed by 28[the 29[State] Government] to examine corpses under such circumstances, who shall endeavour to ascertain the cause of death.
Should the Police-patel be unable to forward the cropse without the risk of putrefaction rendering examination useless or dangerous, he shall nevertheless prevent the burning or burying of such corpse until the Policeofficer in charge of the District Police-station within the limits of which his village is situated, or one of his subordinates deputed by him or a Magistrate, shall have assented thereto.