'Beating Of Doctors And Other Hospital Staff By Attendants Of Patients Has Become A Very Regular Feature': MP High Court Directs State Gov To Amend Law To Curb Such Violence

The Jabalpur Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday expressed strong reservations against the increasing practice of beating, manhandling and attacking doctors and other paramedical staff in hospitals by the attendants of the patients. The Court was adjudicating upon a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition which had been registered on the basis of a letter dated November 18, 2013 written by Dr. Sanjay Maheshwari, Head of M.P. Birla Hospital & Priyamvada Birla Cancer Research Institute, Satna (M.P.) and addressed to the Chief Justice of the High Court.

The petitioner who is a surgeon by profession had been brutally beaten up in the course of his duty by the kin of an accident victim for his failure to save the victim's life. Taking into consideration the grievance raised, a Bench comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla observed,

"Even though the matter has been registered as a public interest litigation on the letter of the petitioner, who himself was allegedly beaten and was eventually lodged in jail and later, granted bail, thus showing his personal involvement, but, this Court cannot lose sight of the fact that misbehaviour, abuse, manhandling and many times beating of the doctors and other paramedical staff in the hospitals by the attendants of the patients has these days rather become a very regular feature. This tendency was witnessed even during the second wave of Covid-19."

The Bench further noted that due to such repeated instances of violence against doctors during the second wave of the pandemic, the Centre was compelled to amend the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 by way of Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Act, 2020 (No.34 of 2020) dated September 29, 2020 wherein 'acts of violence' had been comprehensively defined to include any form of harassment against healthcare service personnel.

Furthermore, the Court referred to the legislation titled M.P. Chikitsa Evam Chikitsa Seva Se Sambandh Vyaktiyon Ki Suraksha Adhiniyam, 2008 (2008 Adhiniyam) which penalises any form of assault or intimidation meted out against medical professionals during the discharge of their duties.

Section 3 of the 2008 Adhiniyam inter alia provides that "any act of assault, criminal force, intimidation and threat to medical and health service person during or incidental to discharge of his lawful duties pertinent to medical and health care delivery within medical and service institutions or in a mobile clinic or in an ambulance shall be prohibited". Moreover, Section 4 has made such an offence punishable with imprisonment of either description for term which may extend to three months or with fine, which may extend to ten thousand rupees or both and under Section 5 such an offence has been made a cognizable and non-bailable offence.

Despite such stringent penal provisions, the Bench opined that legislation has failed to achieve its intended objective and thus directed the State government to bring about appropriate amendments to curb such incidents of violence.

"The 2008 Adhiniyam, as aforesaid, has failed to achieve the intended object. This Court therefore directs the respondents State Government to revisit the provisions of the 2008 Adhiniyam by inviting suggestions from all the stakeholders as to how it can be made more effective so as to provide deterrence to the perpetrators of such crime with the doctors and paramedical staff. The State Government, in doing so, may consider incorporating some parts of the amendments, introduced in the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, in the 2008 Adhiniyam to provide more teeth to this enactment and make it really effective with the purpose of containing recurrence of such unsavoury incidents with the doctors and paramedical staff whose services to the society deserve special recognition."

Background

In the instant case, on November 11, 2013 an accident patient had arrived in the Emergency ward of the hospital after having sustained serious injuries to his face, head, chest, fracture ribs, ruptured lung, multiple facial fractures, and skull base fracture injury etc.

The petitioner contended that even after trying his best to save the accident victim, he had succumbed to his injuries in 3.5 hours. Consequently, the relatives of the deceased began to agitate and inflict violence upon the petitioner and other hospital staff. The petitioner and other paramedical staff were beaten, abused and threatened not only in their working place but also in their residential campuses and in some cases, in front of their family members too.

Additionally, the family members of the deceased patient also pressurised the police, as a result of which the police had lodged an FIR against the petitioner and other staff members of the hospital for an offence punishable under Section 304 of the IPC (causing death by negligence). Thereafter the petitioner and other staff members of the hospital had also been arrested and confined in jail. Finally, bail had been granted to the petitioner by the Fourth Additional Sessions Judge, Satna.

Furthermore, a cross-FIR had also been registered against the relatives of the deceased at the instance of Vinod Singh Baghel, Administrator of M.P. Birla Hospital, Satna under various provisions of the IPC and the 2008 Adhiniyam.

After issuing the aforementioned directions, the Court disposed of the PIL by observing,

"This is an intra party dispute leading to lodgement of cross FIRs and therefore the present petition cannot be entertained as a public interest litigation."

Case Title: Dr. Sanjay Maheshwari v. State of M.P. and other

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