High Court refuses to quash case against hospital owner

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court declined to quash a case against the owner of a nursing home where a Covid patient allegedly passed away due to treatment by a “fake doctor”.

The matter was heard by the bench of Justice Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee. The father of the deceased (daughter) alleged that she passed away at the nursing home in Bally in 2021 after being treated by one “fake doctor” Sudipto Sardar. Hence, the complainant also held the owner (petitioner) of the nursing home responsible

for the death. The petitioner’s counsel submitted that because of the pandemic, the owner didn’t get enough time to enquire about the said fake doctor or verify his identification as a doctor. Sardar only gave the nursing home authorities his PAN number and his registration number of the West Bengal Medical Council.

The counsel said there wasn’t any material to show the petitioner had a guilty mind or the intention of causing death. It was claimed that the fake doctor spelled his name as ‘Sudipto Sardar’ whereas the genuine doctor under that registration number spelled his name as ‘Sudipta Sardar’.

Counsel for the complainant stated that a specific charge was attributed against the petitioner which forms the essential ingredients of the offence, punishable under section 304A IPC (causing death by negligence).

Accordingly, after hearing both sides, the court noted that a prima facie case had been established which had to be investigated and it would not be justified to quash the proceeding by appreciating the materials collected during the investigation.