Bombay High Court Refuses To Quash FIR Against Doctors Booked For Switching Off Oxygen Supply
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday (September 23) refused to quash a First Information Report (FIR) lodged against three men of the same family, booked for switching off the oxygen supply of an ICU ward in a hospital in Pune.
Single-judge Justice Ranjitsinha Bhonsale said that there was a prima facie strong case against the three men, all of whom are practising doctors.
"In my considered opinion, the facts of the case do not make out a cause to exercise the inherent jurisdiction of the Court under Section 482 of the CrPC. In my opinion, the allegation in the FIR makes out a prima facie case against the Petitioners. The Petitioners have the liberty to raise their defences at the trial during the cross examination or by examining their own defence witnesses," the bench said while dismissing the plea.
According to the material on record, the accused Petitioners - Dr Ramesh Sonawane, Dr Bhushan Sonawane and Dr Harshal Sonawane barged into the hospital run by one Dr Mahendra Chavan, and threatened and abused the complainant - relatives of a child, who was receiving treatment inside the hospital's ICU.
Basically, the petitioners were the in-laws of Dr Chavan and had given him the hospital as a "gift" to their daughter (Chavan's wife). The prosecution story was that the complainant child was admitted in the hospital's ICU facility as he was critically ill. On the day of incident, the petitioner's barged in the hospital, questioned the complainant as to why they were sitting outside the ICU ward, asked them to shift their child to some other hospital and even threatened to kill Dr Chavan.
Due to the sudden commotion, when Dr Chavan and other hospital staff reached the spot, the petitioners allegedly started abusing and threatening Dr Chavan and amid all this, they even switched off the supply of oxygen to the ICU facility due to which the condition of the complainant's child deteriorated.
However, the doctors treated the child and brought his vitals back to normal.
Lateron, Dr Chavan informed the complainant that the petitioners were his in-laws and accordingly the present FIR was lodged.
On the other hand, the petitioners contended that Dr Chavan's kids were not well and had fever and Dr Chavan was not looking after them because he didn't treat his wife well. So, the petitioners visited the hospital only to give proper medicines to the two children. The petitioners claimed that the present FIR was just a means to settle scores.
"The allegations made by the complainant are prima facie made out. The complainant has named the Petitioners only after being informed of the names by Dr Chavan. It is a matter of record that, the complainant's son was admitted in the ICU at the relevant time. The chargesheet has been filed which has statements of various witnesses including nurses, hospital staff and the watchmen of the hospital. The perusal of the charge-sheet would further indicate that, the prima facie presence of the Petitioners cannot be disputed. There is prima facie enough material on record in the form of the statements to make out the offence against the Petitioners," Justice Bhonsale noted.
As regards all the defences raised by the petitioners is concerned, the judge said that the same will have to be tried and tested in the trial.
Therefore the judge dismissed the petition and refused to quash the FIR.
Appearance:
Advocate Vikas Shivarkar appeared for the Petitioners.
Additional Public Prosecutor Megha Bajoria represented the State.
Advocates Dhammaraj Shejul, Prajakta More and Neha Blani represented the Complainant.
Case Title: Dr Ramesh Kisanrao Sonawane vs State of Maharashtra (Writ Petition 2553 of 2022)
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