New Delhi, Oct. 25 -- A death by drowning cannot automatically be treated as a natural accident, the Supreme Court has held, cautioning that even a postmortem confirming drowning cannot rule out foul play and that the circumstances surrounding the death must be investigated. A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran set aside a Patna high court order quashing criminal proceedings against a man accused of murder in the drowning death of a boy, holding that the court had brushed aside compelling circumstances warranting a trial. "Merely because the postmortem indicated death by drowning, it cannot be assumed that there was absolutely no foul play," said the bench in its recent order, emphasising that even if a person is deliberately pushed into water with the intention of drowning him, a postmortem examination may reveal nothing suspicious. The court was hearing an appeal filed by the boy's father, challenging the high court's May decision to quash the cognisance of offences of murder and causing disappearance of evidence. The accused, Kumar Gitanshu, had taken his son for a walk on May 12, 2020. Later, the father was informed that the boy drowned and the bench noted that two witnesses stated that they saw the accused fleeing....