Karnataka HC Directs Govt Doctor to Submit Affidavit on Wound Certificate in Assault Case
Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has directed the state government to secure the affidavit of a doctor at the District hospital at Chigateri, Davanagere regarding the second wound certificate issued to a complainant in a case of alleged assault.
The case revolves around a criminal complaint filed by Manjunath in 2023, in which he accused the six lawyers of assault. The police had filed a charge sheet against the advocates under sections 320 (voluntarily causing hurt), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), and 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
According to the petitioner advocates, Manjunath had several disputes, including a marital conflict in which some of the accused advocates had represented his wife. The complainant claimed that the assault occurred in 2023, after which he registered a criminal case alleging that the advocates had assaulted him. The petitioners further asserted that Manjunath was targeting them since they had appeared for his wife.
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The court noted that initially, the petitioner was examined at a hospital in Bhadravathi on the day of the incident and a certificate was issued which depicted no external injuries. However, dissatisfied with this certificate, Manjunath sought a second opinion and visited the Chigateri District Hospital in Davanagere, where he was examined by a government doctor.
Justice Nagaprasanna observed that within 12 hours of the examination, the picture of the wound had completely changed. The wound certificate, the second in line, now depicted several bruises and injuries on the body of the complainant. The court also expressed concerns that the assault case may have been fabricated as a retaliatory measure due to the advocates' role in defending Manjunath’s wife in a matrimonial dispute.
As per the recent media report in the Deccan Herald, the court said, “The first wound certificate was secured on April 13, 2023, and the second one was obtained on May 22, 2023. It thus becomes necessary for the doctor of Chigateri District Hospital, Davanagere, who treated the petitioner and issued a certificate on May 22, 2023, for having treated him on April 14, 2023, to file an affidavit in detail, narrating as to the treatment that was given to the complainant and as to the reason why his opinion differed with the earlier wound certificate, which depicts no external injuries and the next, showing plethora of injuries. The State shall secure the affidavit of the said doctor by the next date of hearing.”
The next hearing of the case will take place on January 24, 2025, when the court will consider the submitted affidavit and any further developments.
