The certification of grievous injury is done by doctors in accordance with Section 320 of Indian Penal Code, which lists fracture of bone as a grievous injury.
• The medical dictionary meaning of fracture is the breaking of a part especially the bone or break or rupture in the bone or in continuity of a bone
• This definition is applicable to the Radiologist or Orthopedician but certainly not for the purpose of certification of injury as grievous since in many cases in legal scrutiny it has been found that fractures reported by Radiologists were tentative, superficial, fabricated or self-inflicted, hardly one mm deep cuts in the bone or merely a ponding effect on bone having no any medical or surgical complication is certified a grievous injury, which is not a prudent certification for law.
• It is imported for a doctor to understand that a tentative fracture medically/clinically non-significant/uncomplicated/invented by modern scan methods/ cannot be certified as grievous injury.
• A mere superficial cut and scratch on bone may not be grievous because the meaning of grievous is……………… threatening great harm; "a dangerous operation"; "a grave situation"; "a grave illness"; "grievous bodily harm"; "a serious wound"; "a serious turn of events"; "a severe case of wound or a life-threatening disease
• It must be remembered that the cutting of a bone does not necessarily involve a fracture of that bone. In a criminal revision at the Patna High Court, in which one received an incised wound, 3” x 3 ¼” x 1, on the lower part of the left leg cutting the bone underneath it was held that where the evidence was merely that the bone had been cut and there was nothing whatever to indicate the extent of the cut, whether deep or a mere scratch upon the surface, it was impossible to infer from that evidence alone that grievous hurt had been caused within the meaning of the definition of Section 320 IPC.
• In a judgment, the Supreme Court had clarified that until and unless such a cut on bone does not extend deep up to the medullary cavity it will not constitute a grievous hurt within the definition of fracture under Section 320(7) of Indian Penal Code
• In case of hurt it is the Court that finally decides whether it is simple or grievous. The duty of the medical witness is only to describe the facts and not classify a hurt. The entry made in the wound certificate as simple or grievous is only meant to guide the investigating officer.
• The medical dictionary meaning of fracture is the breaking of a part especially the bone or break or rupture in the bone or in continuity of a bone
• This definition is applicable to the Radiologist or Orthopedician but certainly not for the purpose of certification of injury as grievous since in many cases in legal scrutiny it has been found that fractures reported by Radiologists were tentative, superficial, fabricated or self-inflicted, hardly one mm deep cuts in the bone or merely a ponding effect on bone having no any medical or surgical complication is certified a grievous injury, which is not a prudent certification for law.
• It is imported for a doctor to understand that a tentative fracture medically/clinically non-significant/uncomplicated/invented by modern scan methods/ cannot be certified as grievous injury.
• A mere superficial cut and scratch on bone may not be grievous because the meaning of grievous is……………… threatening great harm; "a dangerous operation"; "a grave situation"; "a grave illness"; "grievous bodily harm"; "a serious wound"; "a serious turn of events"; "a severe case of wound or a life-threatening disease
• It must be remembered that the cutting of a bone does not necessarily involve a fracture of that bone. In a criminal revision at the Patna High Court, in which one received an incised wound, 3” x 3 ¼” x 1, on the lower part of the left leg cutting the bone underneath it was held that where the evidence was merely that the bone had been cut and there was nothing whatever to indicate the extent of the cut, whether deep or a mere scratch upon the surface, it was impossible to infer from that evidence alone that grievous hurt had been caused within the meaning of the definition of Section 320 IPC.
• In a judgment, the Supreme Court had clarified that until and unless such a cut on bone does not extend deep up to the medullary cavity it will not constitute a grievous hurt within the definition of fracture under Section 320(7) of Indian Penal Code
• In case of hurt it is the Court that finally decides whether it is simple or grievous. The duty of the medical witness is only to describe the facts and not classify a hurt. The entry made in the wound certificate as simple or grievous is only meant to guide the investigating officer.
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