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Prince Rajbhar case: Cops to add ‘death by negligence’ section against KEM officials
Mumbai police will now invoke section 304 (A) – causing death by negligence – against officials of King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital.
Following the death of two-month-old Prince Pannelal Rajbhar, Mumbai police will now invoke section 304 (A) – causing death by negligence – against officials of King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital.
“We will inform the court and will add sections in the case for causing death by negligence by evening,”said Vinod Kamble, senior police inspector of Bhoiwada police station.
Based on the complaint of the child’s father Pannelal Rajbhar, Bhoiwada police had registered a case against responsible people from KEM hospital under section 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian penal code (IPC).
In his complaint, Rajbhar said that on November 7, his two-month-old son Prince was in KEM Hospital’s ICU on bed number 9. He was undergoing treatment for a congenital heart disease and was hooked to an ECG machine.
Around 2:50 am, a nurse alerted hospital authorities of a fire inside in the ICU caused by a short-circuit in a wire connected to Prince’s ECG monitor. Prince suffered 22 per cent burn injuries on his left side. On November 11, doctors had to amputate Prince’s left arm.
Last week, the police had sent a letter to the dean of KEM Hospital asking about the working procedure followed by the staff and those responsible for the maintenance of the machine and the ICU.
The police had seized the ECG machine and monitor from the hospital and sent it to FSL, reports of which are awaited.
The police has also asked the Mumbai Fire Brigade and BEST for a report on the cause of the fire and short circuit.
