Bombay High Court Orders Legal Action Against Doctor For Gross Negligence In Postmortem Procedure

The Bombay High Court recently ordered the Secretary of Health, Government of Maharashtra, and the Commissioner of Police, Thane to take legal action against a medical officer for gross negligence in conducting the postmortem of a deceased in a murder case.

“The Secretary, Health, Government of Maharashtra as well as Commissioner of Police Thane are directed to take cognizance of the said report as well as the order passed by this Court and initiate an appropriate legal action against Dr. Phad and the concerned for such a gross negligence and illegality in conducting a postmortem of the deceased-Mohan Bhoir”, Justice Prithviraj K Chavan directed.

The court was dealing with a bail application filed by one Jaywant Bhoir accused of murdering a man in 2020. Bhoir filed the present bail application on the ground that the post-mortem report did not specify the cause of death of the victim. The medical officer mentioned in the post-mortem report that the cause of death will be given after receipt of the chemical analysis report.

The court on August 8, 2023, directed the Civil Surgeon, Civil Hospital, Thane, to constitute a committee to ascertain the cause of death.

The committee's report revealed discrepancies in the postmortem report prepared by medical officer Dr. NA Phad, who conducted the examination at Rural Hospital, Murbad. Dr. Phad's report given on the letterhead of his private hospital even though the post-mortem was conducted in a government hospital. He did not submit any report from the official government record. Further, it was found that the findings in his report were self-contradictory.

Injuries recorded by Dr. Phad on the body of the deceased also did not match the injuries recorded in the inquest panchnama. The committee's report revealed that Dr. Phad did not fill up the Form through which the viscera was forwarded to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) properly. Further, he failed to forward brain samples of the deceased to the FSL in Thane.

FSL viscera report indicated that the postmortem was done on July 16, 2020 which is an incorrect date as the postmortem was conducted on July 12, 2020, the court noted.

Thus, the court ordered the state to take cognizance of the report and the court's order to initiate appropriate legal proceedings against Dr. Phad.

The court also called for a preliminary report from the Secretary of Health to be presented within four weeks and directed the investigating officer to appear on the next hearing for April 23, 2024.

Advocate Nilesh Navale represented the accused while APP Ashish Satpute represented the State.

Case no. – Criminal Bail Application No. 3392 of 2022

Case Title – Jaywant @ Bhau Mukund Bhoir v. State of Maharashtra

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