Ghaziabad rape: SC slams doc, hospitals that ‘denied’ victim care

Hearing a petition seeking enquiry into the death of a child rape victim in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad district, the Supreme Court on Friday said that the case revealed the “ruthless” manner in which an Ayurvedic doctor and two hospitals denied urgent medical care and directed them to put forward reasonable offer of compensation or face a “chilling” penalty

Hearing a petition seeking enquiry into the death of a child rape victim in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad district, the Supreme Court on Friday said that the case revealed the “ruthless” manner in which an Ayurvedic doctor and two hospitals denied urgent medical care and directed them to put forward reasonable offer of compensation or face a “chilling” penalty.

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Dealing with the petition filed by the child’s father, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said a special investigation team (SIT) it had constituted has recommended in its report that a penalty be imposed on the two NCR hospitals that refused to admit the child leading to her death.

When the Ayurvedic doctor’s lawyer sought a lenient consideration for his client as he had no facility to admit the child, the bench said, “You have no business to be a doctor. You acted in a ruthless manner and we do not expect such persons to be there in society.”

When the lawyer clarified that he could have done nothing as he had no facility to admit, the bench, also comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said, “You ignored her because she was poor and could not pay your fees. If you were sensitive to the injuries she suffered, you would have taken her to the nearest hospital.”

The lawyers appearing for the two hospitals — Khajan Singh Manvi Healthcare and St Joseph (Mariam) Hospital — informed the bench that a reasonable compensation shall be paid. The court said, “Last time we told you to consider donating some amount. We were polite as the SIT recommendation is to impose a penalty on you. If we impose a penalty, it will have a chilling effect. Look at the injuries the child had suffered.”

Sandeep Tyagi, owner of Khajan Singh Manvi Healthcare at Saddiq Nagar, Sihani, told HT: “The court asked us to provide compensation to the family of the deceased girl. Ours is a small nursing home, and the girl was brought to our facility around 9pm on the day of the incident. We don’t have an ICU or blood bank. She was here only for a couple of minutes, and then the family took her to the other hospital.”

Lalit Goel, head of operations at St Joseph Hospital, told HT: “The court has directed us to provide voluntary financial help to the family, and we will comply with the directions. On the day of the incident, the girl’s family brought her to our charitable hospital between 7-8pm and about 50-60 people were with them. Before we could even start any treatment or examine the girl, the mob asked the family to take the girl to a higher center. They left our hospital thereafter.”

Additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the UP government, informed the bench that the SIT report has not been shared with the state. The petitioner’s lawyer, senior advocate N Hariharan sought time to examine the SIT report.

The bench posted the matter on July 30 to enable the state and the petitioner to go through the report and suggest further directions to be passed. “We are not taking this adversarially. We will open the SIT report in your presence. Meanwhile the lawyers for the hospitals can take instructions if they are willing to give a reasonable amount as part of victim compensation to the girl’s family.”

The incident took place on March 16 in Nandgram, Ghaziabad where a neighbour lured the child to an open field and sexually assaulted her. The child’s father, while returning from work, saw the neighbour taking his daughter away. When she failed to return home, he set out to find her and saw the neighbour coming out from a nearby field where the child was lying in a pool of blood.

She was taken to a doctor nearby and then to private hospitals in the vicinity. After they refused to admit the victim, she was rushed to a district hospital in Ghaziabad where she was declared brought dead. A case of murder and destruction of evidence was registered at Nandgram police station under the relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 (BNS).

The court constituted SIT due to major lapses by the local police in registering an offence under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). The petition stated that the police had refused to lodge the case and failed to incorporate the offence of rape (Section 376 of IPC) in the FIR. The post-mortem report recorded that the private parts of the child were injured and bleeding which suggested aggravated sexual assault against the child.