Bhopal gangrape case: Madhya Pradesh HC sends notices to chief secy, DGP over errors in victim's medical report

Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has served notices to the chief secretary, the Director General of Police and others on the Bhopal gangrape victim’s medical report that apparently had glaring errors. Chief Justice Hemant Gupta issued the notices on Saturday after taking suo motu cognisance of newspaper reports about the medical document and treating them as a public interest litigation (PIL), High Court Registrar General Mohammed Fahim Anwar told PTI on Saturday over the phone. He posted the matter on 13 November, Anwar said. The medical examination report of the rape victim stated that the sexual act was committed “with her consent and will”, triggering widespread outrage two days ago. At one place, the report, prepared by the doctors of the Sultania Lady Hospital, termed the 19-year-old woman as an “accused” rather than “victim”. [caption id=“attachment_4205243” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Notwithstanding the doctors’ claim of the errors having been committed “inadvertently”, the Bhopal divisional commissioner had served notices to them two days ago. According to police, though the report had errors, it confirmed that the woman was raped and injuries were found in her private parts. The woman was allegedly raped by four men for almost three hours near the railway tracks in Bhopal when she was returning home after attending a coaching class on 31 October night. “The doctors had written in the examination report that physical relation was established ‘with her consent and will’. The report also mentioned the ‘victim’ as an ‘accused’ at one place,” the police said. When the police had sought clarification, the doctors concerned gave a (written) clarification that the word “with” was inadvertently used instead of ‘without’. The other error, terming the victim as an accused at one place was also rectified by the doctors in the clarification, the police added. They said the errors in the report were “insignificant” as these were made in the column for recording the details of the incident. Two doctors, Khushbhu Gajbhiye and Sanyogita had been slapped show-cause notices seeking their replies within three days. Last week, the government suspended five policemen for their alleged negligence which led to a delay in registering the offence. Two senior police officers, the Inspector General of Police, Bhopal range, and SP concerned of the Government Railway Police were transferred. The action came after media reports claimed it took the woman nearly 24 hours to get her complaint registered as officials of three police stations feuded over jurisdiction. Police have arrested all the four accused.