Cases of doctors being subjected to
criminal prosecution are on an increase. Sometimes such prosecutions are filed
by private complainants and sometimes by police on an FIR being lodged and
cognizance taken.
o
The
investigating officer and the private complainant cannot always be supposed to
have knowledge of medical science so as to determine whether the act of the
accused medical professional amounts to rash or negligent act within the domain
of criminal law under Section 304–A of IPC.
o
The
criminal process once initiated subjects the medical professional to serious
embarrassment and sometimes harassment.
o
He
has to seek bail to escape arrest, which may or may not be granted to him.
o
At
the end he may be exonerated by acquittal or discharge but the loss which he
has suffered in his reputation cannot be compensated by any standards.
o
We
may not be understood as holding that doctors can never be prosecuted for an offence
of which rashness or negligence is an essential ingredient.
o
All
that we are doing is emphasizing the need for care and caution in the interest
of society; for, the service which the medical profession renders to human
beings is probably the noblest of all, and hence there is a need for protecting
doctors from frivolous or unjust prosecutions.
- Many a complainant prefer recourse
to criminal process as a tool for pressurizing the medical professional
for extracting uncalled for or unjust compensation. Such malicious
proceedings have to be guarded against.
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