Kerala: Stay ordered against police action in Shamna case by HC

Kochi: The Shamna Tasneem death case has taken an interesting turn with the Kerala High Court , imposing a month long stay on further proceedings being carried out by the police against Dr. Jilse George. Dr George is the suspended Head of Department, General Medicine, Government Medical College, Kalamassery and the medical practitioner who attended on Shamna, when she was brought into the hospital in an unconscious state, last year.

The Court’s stay has been passed based on the doctor’s writ petition challenging the State Level Apex Body (Medical Negligence) charging him for medical negligence.

Dr. George in his petition stated that the investigating officer had been forwarded the report of the apex body, summarizing that medical negligence by the doctors on duty on July 18,2016 had resulted in the patient- Shamna Tasneem meeting her end.

The petitioner further alleged that the constitution of the body was against Supreme Court directives. In addition, the suspended doctor stated that there were no experts or specialists in the State Level Apex Body.

According to him the body included: the Director of Health Services, a paediatrician; Director of Medical Education, a radiologist; and Additional Director of Health Services (Vigilance), who was an MBBS graduate, without any specialization.

His petition further argued that no reason had been stated in the apex body’s report for arriving at a different finding from that of the District Level Expert Committee.

According to George, commenting on the entire episode that led to Shamna’s death, the district committee had been of the view that despite difficult circumstance in terms of facility available, treatment had been rendered to the patient at the hospital .

He argued that the Apex Body report was a biased reflection of the entire episode.

He further justified that the investigating officer proceeding on the basis of the report would lead to ‘miscarriage of justice.’

He sought a directive from the court asking the investigating officer to refrain from acting or relying on the report of the State Level Apex Body reports The Hindu.