A DOCTOR, accused in a case of medical negligence which led to the death of a 68-year-old woman, has filed a revision petition in the Chandigarh district court to set aside the 2011 order of registering a case against him in the matter.
The accused, Doctor Jayant Banerjee, has been booked in a case under sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, along with Daljeet Singh Gujral, Managing Director of INSCOL, Nimrat Gujral, Director of INSCOL, and Paramjeet Singh Maan, Resident Medical Officer of INSCOL. The case has been registered on the complaint of J S Arora, who had alleged medical negligence for the death of his 68-year-old wife.
The district court on March 8 had already dismissed the discharge application of Daljeet Singh Gujral, Nimrat Gujral and Paramjeet Singh Maan, pertaining to a case. While the accused Jayant Banerjee, who had been summoned by the court earlier through bailable and non-bailable warrants, has failed to appear in court, the latter initiated proceedings to have the accused a Proclaimed Offender (PO).
But now, seeking to set aside the order of the case registered against him and also to stop the proceedings against him, Banerjee, reportedly in Australia, has sent a plea to the court. In the plea, the doctor stated that he had just given his opinion to the complainant to get his wife checked by Doctor Sudhir Saxena and not get her admitted in 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 summons for the first time in February 2016 and just by giving suggestion to the patient, he should not be made an accused in the case.
Acting on the doctor’s plea, the court has issued notice to the complainant. The matter is scheduled for hearing on September 14. Meanwhile, charges against the accused are yet to be framed by the court.
According to Arora, in 2005, his wife, then 55-year-old Inderjeet, went to INSCOL Hospital in Sector 34 to get a mole on her leg checked. 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. Arora alleged that while being at INSCOL, she was not treated for her mole but given an injection without any specific reason.
After this, Arora lodged a complaint against the INSCOL authorities with the Medical Council of India (MCI), which ordered Chandigarh Police to conduct the inquiry. The police report found that the medical records submitted by the INSCOL authorities to MCI and the Chandigarh Police were different, which revealed the misrepresentation of the case of Inderjeet Arora by the INSCOL authorities, alleged Arora.
Arora then filed a criminal case against the owners of INSCOL Hospital and the doctors in the district court which is going on since 2008. The case was registered on the orders of the court in 2011.
On the other hand, Inderjeet, who was struggling due to the alleged problems that cropped up after her treatment at INSCOL, died in August 2017.