IPC section 420: Doctor Accused of Negligence files Plea to Set aside Case against him

Chandigarh: A medical practitioner booked under IPC sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) following medical negligence case has now filed an appeal with the Chandigarh district court to set aside the court order invoking the said provisions against him.

The concerned case goes back to the year 2005, when the complainant took his wife to INSCOL Hospital, to get a mole on her leg checked. Indian Express reports that according to the complainant, the high potency injection prescribed by the doctors at INSCOL is to be given by a qualified cardiologist, at a medical facility which has a ventilator. But, after the victim was given injection, her condition worsened. The hospital being unable to control the condition of the victim, asked Arora to take his wife to another private hospital as they did not have a ventilator.

Later, alleging that she was not treated for her mole but given an injection without any specific reason, Arora then lodged a complaint against the INSCOL authorities with the Medical Council of India (MCI), which ordered Chandigarh Police to conduct the inquiry.

During the investigations, the police found that the medical records submitted by the INSCOL authorities to MCI and the Chandigarh Police were not the same. Based on these difference in records submission complainant, the patients husband filed a criminal case against the owners of INSCOL Hospital and the doctors in the district court in 2008

Three years later, in 2011 on the orders of the court, a case under IPC sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) were registered against 4 persons including the directors of the hospital as well as the doctors concerned in the case

It is reported that district court earlier dismissed the discharge application of other concerned doctors   involved in the case a case. On the other hand, the 4th accused doctor, the MS of the hospital at that time had been summoned by the court earlier through bailable and non-bailable warrants, failed to appear in court, prompting the latter initiated proceedings to have the accused a Proclaimed Offender (PO), reports The Indian Express.

Now, in his justification, Dr Banerjee, reportedly in Australia, has appealed to the court that he had just given his opinion to Arora to get his wife checked by one Dr Saxena and not get her admitted in the hospital. He was the medical superintendent of INCSOL at that time and he had no role in the matter. He has also stated that he received the summons for the first time in February 2016.

Adding that, just by giving suggestion to the patient, he should not be made an accused in the case, the doctor filed a plea with the district court seeking to set aside the order for the case to be registered against him under the said IPC clauses and also to stop the proceedings against him.

Acting on the doctor’s plea, the court has issued a notice to complainant. The matter is now scheduled for hearing on September 14. Meanwhile, charges against the accused are yet to be framed by the court.

The patient had died in 2017, adds in Indian Express