HC says doctor’s touch not improper, acquits him
TNN | Feb 6, 2018, 05:21 IST
TIMES OF INDIA
MUMBAI: Two years after a doctor was accused by a female patient of inappropriately touching her, the Bombay high court recently struck down sexual harassment charges against the medical practitioner. The woman, who was suffering from a nerve problem on her right and left hand, had alleged that the doctor had touched her on the hands and shoulders.
"...we are of the opinion that whatever was done by the doctor was appropriate to the medical situation," said a division bench of acting chief justice Vijaya Kapse Tahilramani and Justice Makarand Karnik. "It cannot be said that the conduct of the doctor was something which in the given facts and circumstances no medical professional in his ordinary senses and prudence would have done... looking to the medical complaint with which the complainant lady approached the doctor, it was necessary for him to hold her hands and to touch her shoulders," said the bench. The court also pointed out that the complainant's young son as well as a woman compounder was present at the time of the medical examination.
The woman had visited the clinic, along with her son on April 29, 2016, and claimed that she had a problem with her nerves in the right and left hand. In her complaint, she said that the doctor made her sit on the examination table and told her to hold his fingers with both her hands, which she did. He then pressed her hands as well as shoulders. Subsequently, he told her that Vitamin D3 and D12 injections had to be given to her hip. She said that she did not feel that the doctor's touch was appropriate and therefore lodged the first information report at Navghar police station. The doctor was charged for offences under the Indian Penal Code including of outraging a woman's modesty (section 354), physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures (section 354A). If convicted he faces a jail term of up to three years.
A report from the police hospital in Nagpada, sought by the prosecution, opined that check up done by the doctor which required him to touch her on the shoulders and hip as well as injections on the hip was appropriate for the woman's medical complaint. An expert Medical Committee consisting of three doctors of Sir J.J. Hospital also had a similar finding. "We are of the view that no offence is made out," the bench held. It cited a Supreme Court judgement which said that when allegations in the FIR are not supported by evidence, then such an FIR could be quashed.
TNN | Feb 6, 2018, 05:21 IST
TIMES OF INDIA
MUMBAI: Two years after a doctor was accused by a female patient of inappropriately touching her, the Bombay high court recently struck down sexual harassment charges against the medical practitioner. The woman, who was suffering from a nerve problem on her right and left hand, had alleged that the doctor had touched her on the hands and shoulders.
"...we are of the opinion that whatever was done by the doctor was appropriate to the medical situation," said a division bench of acting chief justice Vijaya Kapse Tahilramani and Justice Makarand Karnik. "It cannot be said that the conduct of the doctor was something which in the given facts and circumstances no medical professional in his ordinary senses and prudence would have done... looking to the medical complaint with which the complainant lady approached the doctor, it was necessary for him to hold her hands and to touch her shoulders," said the bench. The court also pointed out that the complainant's young son as well as a woman compounder was present at the time of the medical examination.
The woman had visited the clinic, along with her son on April 29, 2016, and claimed that she had a problem with her nerves in the right and left hand. In her complaint, she said that the doctor made her sit on the examination table and told her to hold his fingers with both her hands, which she did. He then pressed her hands as well as shoulders. Subsequently, he told her that Vitamin D3 and D12 injections had to be given to her hip. She said that she did not feel that the doctor's touch was appropriate and therefore lodged the first information report at Navghar police station. The doctor was charged for offences under the Indian Penal Code including of outraging a woman's modesty (section 354), physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures (section 354A). If convicted he faces a jail term of up to three years.
A report from the police hospital in Nagpada, sought by the prosecution, opined that check up done by the doctor which required him to touch her on the shoulders and hip as well as injections on the hip was appropriate for the woman's medical complaint. An expert Medical Committee consisting of three doctors of Sir J.J. Hospital also had a similar finding. "We are of the view that no offence is made out," the bench held. It cited a Supreme Court judgement which said that when allegations in the FIR are not supported by evidence, then such an FIR could be quashed.
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