"No Allegation Regarding Misconduct Of A Sexual Nature" : Allahabad High Court Sets Aside Suspension Of A Junior Resident Doctor

The Allahabad High Court recently set aside a suspension order passed against a junior resident doctor who was restrained from taking up any medical work on the allegation that he had sexually abused the daughter of a patient

The Court noted that there was no allegation against the petitioner (a junior resident doctor) with regard to any misconduct of a sexual nature so as to warrant the punishment as had been awarded to him.

With this, the bench of Justice Pankaj Bhatia allowed a writ plea moved by Dr. Vijay Arora challenging his suspension order passed by the management of the King George Medical University, Lucknow.

The case in brief

A newspaper publication reported that in the institution in question, some Junior Resident had sexually abused the daughter of a patient and as such based upon which, the inquiry was proposed. Subsequently, in September 2019, the petitioner was served with a show-cause notice. He filed a response to the said show cause notice, however, without even considering the reply of the petitioner, the impugned order was passed.

In the order, it was stated that the allegations leveled in the newspaper have been inspected and after sanction from the Vice Chancellor, the petitioner was suspended for a period of six months from all medical work and was also restrained from entering any female ward from 08:00 pm to 08:00 am in the morning.

Appearing for the petitioner, Advocate Vikas Vikram Singh argued that the gist of the complaint is that the petitioner was not named and it was stated that along with the ward boy, another person was also present whose conduct and behavior was full of anger for which the complainant felt very bad.

He further argued that even if the enquiry report is treated to be gospel truth, no reasonable man can form an opinion that there was any conduct of the nature which can be termed as misconduct of a sexual orientation leading to the punishment as has been done by means of the impugned order.

On the other hand, the Hospital management (represented by Advocate Shubham Tripathi) submitted before the Court that the victim had stated before the Committee that the petitioner had used improper language for which she felt very bad. After recording the allegations leveled by the complainant before the enquiry committee, the enquiry committee advised the punishment as has been awarded by means of the impugned order.

Court's order

At the outset, the Court took into account the fact that the allegations were levelled against the ward boy, and that no allegation was made against the petitioner with regard to any misconduct of a sexual nature so as to warrant the punishment as has been awarded to the petitioner by means of the impugned order.

"Although the order suffers from the vice of procedural arbitrariness also, however, as this Court finds that there was prima facie no substance against the petitioner so as to inflict the punishment of the nature inflicted by the impugned order, as such, the same cannot be sustained and is set aside," the Court ordered as it allowed the writ plea.

Case title - Dr. Vijay Arora v. King George Medical University Thru. Registrar Lko And Others [WRIT - C No. - 2917 of 2020]

Case Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (AB) 403

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