HC Dismisses Plea To Quash Trial Against Doctor In Patient’s Death In Bhubaneswar

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has dismissed a petition filed by Dr Biswa Mohan Mishra, a medicine specialist, seeking the quashing of criminal proceedings and a chargesheet filed against him for allegedly causing the death of a patient by negligence in 2009.

“Whether the deceased died on account of gross negligence of the petitioner is a question of fact which can be answered in the trial after evidence is presented, but the materials collected by the investigating agency appear some prima facie case against the petitioner vindicating a trial in this case,” Justice Gourishankar Satapathy observed in the August 14 order.

The criminal proceedings were initiated on the basis of an FIR lodged at Lingaraj police station in Bhubaneswar by Sanjay Kumar Sahoo, uncle of deceased Madhusmita Sahoo, on July 2, 2009. The case has since been pending before the court of Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Bhubaneswar. Dr Mishra had filed a petition against it in the high court in 2017.

Noting that 14 years had already elapsed, Justice Satapathy requested the lower court to expedite the trial and dispose of the case in six months of receipt of the copy of the order.

Notably, the patient was admitted with low haemoglobin to Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) hospital in Bhubaneswar’s old town, where the doctor was attached as a medicine specialist, around 6 pm on July 1, 2009. At night, her condition became serious and the doctor could not be contacted over phone despite repeated attempts. Madhusmita died later that night.