ARUN MADHAB BORUAH Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an application under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. filed by the petitioner for quashment of the Complaint Case No. 992C/2015 and the consequential criminal proceedings and orders passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Kamrup taking cognizance of offence under Section 304A IPC against the petitioner and another.

(2.) THE sequence of events leading to the filing of the petition in brief are that the younger sister of the respondent No. 2 for routine examination during her pregnancy initially approached one Dr. Amal Phukan of "Sanjivani Nursing Home", Jorhat and on examination, it was detected that the deceased woman had Bicornuate Uterus and the doctor advised the patient to consult another doctor at "Sristi Nursing Home", Diburgarh and one Dr. Bajaj of that Nursing Home after taking ultrasound reported that the pregnancy was on the left side of the redumentary horn. Thereafter, another Gynaecologist, namely, Dr. Bhavani Chaliha was also consulted and on seeing the reports, he advised for termination of the pregnancy to save the life of the woman. The matter was again discussed by the respondent No. 2 complainant with the husband of the deceased woman and they decided to take last opinion from the petitioner who is a reputed Gynaecologist of Sivsagar and accordingly, the deceased woman accompanied by the respondent No. 2 and her husband came to "Sampriti Nursing Home" at Sivsagar and on seeing the reports, the petitioner suggested that to save the life of the woman, the pregnancy had to be terminated and if allowed to continue she should always be kept near a Hospital to provide immediate medical attention if any problem occurred. The petitioner also advised that her level of Iron and blood should be kept under control. The petitioner doctor advised them to go for MRI in the Assam Medical College, Diburgarh and accordingly, MRI was done on the next day which reveled "possibility of pregnancy in left sided redumentary horn at unicornuate and unicollis uterus". The petitioner advised the patient for termination of the pregnancy after seeing the report and accordingly, operation was to be carried out on the next day and as advised by the petitioner, the deceased came to the hospital for termination of the pregnancy. However, the petitioner wanted to discuss the matter and obtain opinion of Dr. Shyam Baruah of Guwahati and accordingly, photos of the report was sent to him through the mobile phone of the deceased but Dr. Shyam Baruah who is a prominent Radiologist of Guwahati differed with the opinion of the other doctors and wanted to see the deceased and accordingly deceased was brought to Guwahati. Dr. Shyam Baruah who is the co -accused of the complaint suggested for ultrasound and on examination of the same assured that it would be safe to continue with the pregnancy much to the relief of the deceased woman and her relatives. Dr. Shyam Baruah even allegedly went to the extent of disclosing that he was ready to abandon his practice of 38 years if the child would not come to the earth. However, in his report, he had mentioned as follows:

(3.) ON the next day, armed with the opinion of Dr. Shyam Baruah and his report, they visited the chamber of the petitioner with a box of sweets and showered praises on him for his suggestion. On that day, the petitioner suggested for fixing a ring pressure internally and it was explained that the ring pressure was to be fixed internally, the way a banana tree is given support when it bends when more bananas grow and accordingly, the ring pressure was fixed internally after fixation of which she was unable to take food properly and there was also difficulty in urinating etc. and the petitioner assured that those problems would be over within a few days.