Madhya Pradesh High Court Orders Medical Student To Serve At Community Health Centre Biweekly As Condition For Bail

The division bench of Justice Anand Pathak and Justice G.S. Ahluwalia was essentially dealing with an application moved by the Applicant U/S 482 CRPC, to amend one of the conditions under which the Court had previously allowed her application for anticipatory bail. The Court in M.Cr.C. – 4201/2021, vide order dated 12.02.2021, had granted anticipatory bail to the Applicant, wherein one of the conditions laid down for her to abide by, was as follows-

"The petitioner as a Shiksha Swayamsevak shall render physical and financial assistance to government primary school situated nearest to residence of petitioner for ensuring hygiene and sanitation and for removing deficiencies of infrastructural amenities in the said school from the skill/resources of the petitioner … The petitioner after selecting a particular Govt. Primary School shall inform about the same to the office of Gram Panchayat (in case of rural area) and/or Ward Officer of the concerned ward (in case of urban area), within whose territorial jurisdiction the said school is situated … It will be joint responsibility of Sarpanch and Secretary of said Gram Panchayat (in case of rural area) and/or Ward Officer of the concerned ward (in case of urban area) to preserve the said information provided by the petitioner."

The Applicant expressed her anxiety towards the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic. She submitted that it would be difficult for her to move to a government primary school to perform community service in the capacity of Shiksha Swayamsevak as schools are running through online mode. Hence, it would also not be apposite for her to move in the vicinity as there is a chance of getting infected. Therefore, was seeking modification in the respective condition for her bail. It was further submitted that she intends to perform community service but in a different manner as may be provided by this Court.

Mr. Praveen Newaskar, representing the CBI, submitted that if the Applicant really intends to perform community service as per her undertaking, she being a medical student of post-graduation, could perform community service in any community health centre in her vicinity.

Considering submissions made by both the parties, the court decided to amend the respective bail condition by directing the Applicant to perform community service in the following manner-

1. Petitioner shall visit every alternate Sunday to P.C. Sethi Distt. Hospital, Opp. G.P.O., Indore or Community Health Center at Mangliya, Distt. Indore wherever she desires to do and shall perform her duties as General Practitioner and if required, she will assist Specialist/ Ophthalmologist of the said Center by tendering her services. Chief Medical and Health Officer/Civil Surgeon, Indore shall permit her to do so.
2. The petitioner shall perform this community service on every alternate Sunday between 10 am to 2 pm and this shall continue for one year or till she completes her Post Graduation course in Ophthalmology, whichever is earlier. She shall not be a source of infection or discomfort to any patient in any manner during her stint in Community Service. It is expected that petitioner shall seriously perform her services to purge her misdeeds if any and to serve national/social cause without any fail and she will submit the report every third month before this Court for perusal.

Considering that the Applicant is pursuing her Post Graduation, the Court made it clear that if she has to perform any emergency service on Sunday in pursuance to her coursework, she would be exempted to do community service on that day, but she would have to compensate for the same while going for community service on any other day to adjust her duties accordingly.

Case Title: Dr Neha Padam v. Central Bureau of Investigation

Case No: M.Cr.C. 61314/2021

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (MP) 12

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