Pipili case: Panel to probe neglect in treatment

BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Saturday set up a committee to probe the allegation of negligence in treating the alleged 19-year-old gangrape victim of Pipili in Puri district. The three-member committee will be headed by Director of Medical Education and Training (DMET). Health Minister Prasanna Acharya told mediapersons here that the committee would inquire into the alleged negligence by the doctors attending to her. The victim has been struggling for life at the SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack. The State Government’s action came after National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), in a report, recommended strong action against the doctors who had been accused of dereliction of duty while treating the Dalit girl. NCSC Chairman P L Punia in his recommendation to the Chief Minister said doctors did not send the victim for medical examination for rape on the day of the crime. “It was all the more necessary keeping in view the circumstances and the facts of the case. The victim was found on a paddy field unconscious. Normally, in all such cases the victims are sent for medical examination as a matter of routine,” Punia said in his report. “It seems the doctors deliberately tried not to keep evidence against the influential accused and tried to destroy evidence. Doctors failed to discharge their legal duties. The doctors concerned should be named as co-accused in this case and their medical degrees annulled by the Medical Council of India,” the NCSC said in its report. Similar allegations were also made against the doctors by the State Commission for Women (SCW) which also probed the case. The State Government initiated proceedings against three doctors for alleged dereliction of duty under rule 15 (procedure for imposing major penalties) read with rule 17 of Orissa Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1962, on Thursday. Besides not subjecting the victim to medical examination though she was found in an unconscious state, the three doctors were also accused of injecting the patient with anti-venom while there had been no symptom of snakebite. A total of seven doctors are facing charges of negligence. While three doctors were working at Pipili, two each were at the Capital Hospital here and the SCB.