Delhi HC Conducts Training For Doctors Dealing With Sexual Offence Cases

The High Court of Delhi on Sunday conducted a training programme for doctors dealing with cases of sexual offences as per the Supreme Court norms on the matter.

As per a press release, the training programme is being conducted through initiative of the Acting Chief Justice Ms. Gita Mittal, who is the Chairperson of the “Committee to monitor proper implementation of several guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court as well as High Court of Delhi for dealing with matters pertaining to sexual offences and child witnesses”.

The release makes reference to the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Dayal Singh & Ors. v. State of Uttaranchal, wherein the Court had lamented the impact of incompetent forensic and medical evidence on the result of the case, which had resulted in the acquittal of the accused. Thereafter, elaborating on the objective behind organising the programme, the release states, “Doctors in most cases may be unaware about the statutory provisions with regard to medical and scientific investigations so far as medical examination in cases of sexual offences are concerned as they may not have had training in the nuances of law or its mandatory requirements. It is to ensure sensitization as well as compliance of the mandate of law and the guidelines in judgments so that fair prosecution would be supported and ensured that this Training Programme has been organized (sic).”

The resource persons for the programme include Justice K. Kannan (Former Judge of Punjab & Haryana High Court and presently Chairman of Railway Claims Tribunal); Dr. Jagadeesh Narayana Reddy (Professor of Forensic Medicine, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre, Bangalore); Ms. Vidya Reddy (Director of Tulir - Centre for the Prevention & Healing of Child Sexual Abuse, Chennai); Vrinda Grover (Advocate); Dr. S. Ramji (former Dean, Maulana Azad Medical College); and Ms. Padma Deosthali (former Director, CEHAT).

The topics of discussion for these programmes include: understanding circumstances and context in which sexual violence occurs; forensic issues during survivor examination; consent in clinical issues, history, examination of survivor (MoHFW guidelines); evidence collection; opinion writing in cases of survivor; forensic issues and clinical examination of accused;  and deposing evidence in the Court of Law.