Delhi High Court has taken cognisance of negligence allegations against a senior doctor at Tata Main Hospital (TMH), Jamshedpur, which led to the death of a young Timken India executive in 2011, the first breakthrough in the six-year-long battle for justice waged by the victim's brother.
The high court, acting on a writ petition filed last December by the Delhi-based Shishir Chand, brother of deceased Vishal, on March 24 issued notices to Dr Atul Chhabra, along with Bihar Council of Medical Registration, where he is registered, and Ranchi University, under which he studied, to file their responses by May 5, the next hearing.
Vishal, who was only 33, died of a massive cardiac attack on allegedly being misdiagnosed for hyperacidity by the TMH doctor on May 21, 2011.
The order issued by Delhi High Court Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva directs the Bihar council to produce records of Vishal's case on the basis of which it dismissed Shishir's complaint against Dr Chhabra on February 12, 2014.
The council, while saying that Vishal should have been admitted and kept under observation in the wake of "borderline ECG changes" and his family history, had dismissed the complaint against the doctor stating lack of evidence of myocardial infarction or coronary artery blockage in the post-mortem report.
Now, Delhi High Court also wants to know which post-mortem of Vishal the Bihar council had seen to dismiss Shishir's complaint, whether the interim one dated May 22, 2011, or the final one, dated August 31, 2012.
The Delhi court has also asked the Bihar council to confirm if they verified the authenticity of the doctor's MBBS degree.
Shishir, in his writ petition, had said that in the past two years, none, including Dr Chhabra himself, and institutions involved, had been able to provide his original MBBS degree certificate.
With this development, Shishir, who has allegedly been facing hurdles in the case ever since Vishal passed away, is finally hopeful of a breakthrough.
But, he remains aghast that the CID, which got the case on July 29, 2015, from DGP D.K. Pandey, has not filed a single chargesheet so far.
On Tuesday, SP CID Sunil Bhaskar, who is looking after the Vishal case, ducked when asked to comment on its current status.
"I am out of office for an investigation. Only after checking records can I comment on the present status of this case," Bkaskar said.
Will Bihar council give transparent replies in court?
Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com
