Rajasthan High Court Declines To Quash FIR Against Medical Officials Allegedly Involved In Illegal Kidney Transplantation At Jaipur's Fortis Hospital

The Rajasthan High Court has dismissed a criminal miscellaneous petition seeking to quash a First Information Report (FIR) related to an international racket involving illegal kidney transplantation at Fortis Hospital, Jaipur.

Dr. Jyoti Bansal and Dr. Jitendra Goswami, both serving as medical officers at Fortis Hospital in Jaipur, were named in an FIR filed under Sections 420, 419, 471, and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC). During the course of the investigation, additional charges were brought against them under Section 370 IPC, as well as Sections 18 and 19 of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994 (TOHO Act, 1994).

Justice Sudesh Bansal presiding over the case, observed, “In the opinion of this Court, no prima facie case is made out in favour of petitioners to quash the impugned FIR. As per the investigation report, petitioner No.1 has been found to be in telephonic contact with brokers namely Akash, Prashant Yadav and Gopal, as much as money transaction from his bank account with the Giriraj Sharma, has also come on record. Such money transaction is apprehended to be part of payment apart from salary, for performing operation of kidney transplantation illegally.”

“It has revealed in the investigation that petitioner No.1 performed operation of kidney transplantation as a team member of petitioner No.2, and both petitioners, as also coordinator Mr. Giriraj Sharma were working at Manipal Hospital, Jaipur and have joined Fortis Escort Hospital, Jaipur together. In the present case, offences under the Indian Penal Code u/s. 419, 420, 370, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B and offences u/s. 18 and 19 of the TOHO Act, 1994, both are involved, therefore, it may not be said that cognizable offence is not involved in the impugned FIR,” Justice Bansal added.

According to the impugned FIR, an international racket involved in illegal kidney transplantation was busted at Fortis Hospital, Jaipur. The offences were recorded under Section 370 of the IPC and Sections 18 and 19 of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994 (“the TOHO Act, 1994”). Additionally, Section 13(3)(iv) of the TOHO Act, 1994, was also invoked. It was alleged that the petitioners contacted brokers and engaged in monetary transactions with a kidney transplant coordinator at Fortis.

The Court observed that it is a well-established legal principle that the High Court's inherent jurisdiction under section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code for quashing FIRs/complaints should be exercised sparingly and with caution, only in rare cases where it is prima facie established that no cognizable offence is made out against the accused persons or their involvement is baseless or motivated by malicious intent to seek revenge due to personal grudges.

Asserting that the remedy for quashing FIRs/complaints is not routine but can only be invoked under exceptional circumstances, the Court opined, "the instant petition filed by and on behalf of petitioners, does not fall within the exceptional category and the case of petitioners does not fall in any of the category as expounded by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in case of State of Haryana Vs. Choudhary Bhajan Lal [1992 Supp. (1) SCC 335]."

As a result, the Court dismissed the criminal petition.

Case title: Dr Jyoti Bansal and Ors v. State of Rajasthan and Ors.

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Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Raj) 98