Delhi: HC refuses bail to medical surgeon accused in culpable homicide case

The Delhi High Court has refused to grant bail to a medical surgeon, who was accused of performing surgery on a pregnant woman despite not being a qualified Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and nor there being an urgency. The woman, who was 19-20 weeks pregnant, had died during the surgery.

A single-judge bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri dismissed the bail plea of medical surgeon Suresh Chandra Gupta and noted he has not denied the accusation that he had performed the alleged surgery on the deceased.

"Thus, keeping in mind the above-referred recommendations of the Disciplinary Committee, which stand confirmed by Delhi Medical Council (DMC), this court is of the prima facie view that there is a reasonable ground to believe that the petitioner has committed the offence," the bench said.

Noting that the investigation is still pending and the chargesheet is yet to be filed, the bench said that at this stage, it does not find any ground to admit the petitioner on bail.

Advocate Madhusmita Bora, appearing for Gupta, told the court that the 70-year-old petitioner is a qualified medical surgeon and performed the surgery at the request of the hospital concerned. It was also submitted that the FIR is of the year 2015 but the petitioner was arrested on November 18 this year.

Public Prosecutor Neelam Sharma, on the other hand, vehemently opposed the bail application. She submitted that although, the FIR was registered under Section 315 (act done with intent to prevent a child being born alive or to cause it to die after birth) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), subsequently, Section 304 IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) was added as the patient had expired.

Sharma said the petitioner, admittedly, was neither on the panel of the hospital nor even a visiting surgeon and despite knowing fully well that he was not a qualified Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, still performed the surgery when there was no urgency as the pregnancy was only 19-20 weeks old. She also submitted that the chargesheet is yet to be filed and there is a strong possibility that the petitioner may tamper with the evidence.

She also apprised the court that a complaint was made to Delhi Medical Council, which, after disciplinary proceedings found all the doctors concerned guilty of negligence.

"In fact, it was found that co-accused, Hitender Vashisht, the in-charge/director of RP Memorial Hospital was not even registered with the DMC as he is not the holder of qualification in Modern Scientific System of Medicine and should refrain from pre-fixing 'Dr' to his name," she said.

An FIR was registered in 2015 under Section 315 of the IPC at Nangloi Police Station here after a 31-year-old pregnant woman died on July 8, 2015, due to surgery performed by the accused and his associates. The unborn child had also passed away.

The court noted that a disciplinary committee had recommended that Gupta's name be removed from the State Medical Register of the Delhi Medical Council for a period of 180 days. The order passed by the disciplinary committee was later also confirmed by Delhi Medical Council and the petitioner's name has been removed for 180 days.

(ANI)