Retired Gynaecologist sentenced to 5 years in jail for bribery

Bengaluru: A retired gynaecologist from a government hospital in Tumakuru has been sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000 for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2,000 from a pregnant daily wage worker in February 2021 to perform her delivery.

The judgment was delivered by a special court for Lokayukta cases, comprising Judge Yasmin Parveen Ladkhan. The judge noted that, despite being a government employee, the doctor demanded money from a financially weak pregnant woman to carry out the delivery.

The incident dates back to February 2, 2021, when the complainant, a daily wage worker, was brought to the government hospital in labour pain, accompanied by her brother-in-law.

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At that time, the doctor allegedly refused to attend to the complainant unless her brother-in-law paid Rs 3,000 in advance for the delivery. Since the husband of the complainant was away for work, the brother-in-law managed to arrange Rs 2,000 and handed it over to the doctor through a Group D staff member.

Later, when he questioned the doctor whether it was right to act so ruthlessly during an emergency, which could have affected the pregnant woman and the child. In response, the doctor said that almost every pregnant patient who visits the hospital for delivery pays Rs 3,000. Therefore, he was not an exception.

To keep the information as evidence, the complainant's brother-in-law recorded his conversation with the doctor. Later, he filed a complaint with the Lokayukta police on February 4, 2021.

Following the complaint, the police launched an investigation. The audio recording was sent to the forensic science laboratory, which confirmed that the voices belonged to the doctor and the brother-in-law. Along with other circumstantial evidence, the police filed a chargesheet against the doctor, accusing her of demanding and accepting the bribe.

After the matter was taken up by the court, Special Public Prosecutor N Basavaraju informed the judge that the case was not a trap and the voice recording was played during the trial.

Speaking to TOI, Basavaraju said, "The woman was writhing in pain, but that did not affect the doctor. The woman's husband, also a daily wage worker, was away in the field. Summoned by his brother, he rushed to the hospital. With great difficulty, they arranged a Rs 2,000 bribe, and the brother-in-law handed it over to the doctor through a Group D staffer of the hospital."

Considering his side, the court sentenced the doctor to five years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a Rs 20,000 fine. The judge also imposed an additional six months of simple imprisonment in case of payment default.

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