Unable to read doctors' handwriting, court seeks printed medico legal reports
Lucknow Nov 3 : Fed up of summoning doctors to decipher medico legal reports, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court has ordered that computer printed reports be provided along with the original handwritten reports.
Making the observation on Friday, a division bench of justice Ajai Lamba and justice D K Singh said the unreadable hand written reports, produced before the courts in every other case, act as a hindrance in effective adjudication.
However, the printed report will have to be signed by the author as true copy of the original or by some other authorised signatory, after its comparison with the original, the court said.
It would also form part of police report at the time of conclusion of the investigation, the court added.
Despite imposing costs to be recovered from the salary of a number of doctors, they have not been recording medico legal reports/injury reports and post-mortem reports in readable and clear handwriting, the bench said.
Hence in every other case the court has to summon the doctor for reading out the medico legal reports for the benefit of effective adjudication, it added.
"Summoning a doctor simply for reading the report authored by him for bad handwriting does not make administrative sense," the court said while disposing of a writ petition challenging a First Information Report.
"We hereby take judicial notice of the fact that a doctor in a government medical facility is required to examine a large number of patients in a day."
"If for every hearing in revision jurisdiction, bail jurisdiction before the Court of Magistrate, Court of Sessions or the High Court or in appellate jurisdiction, government medical practitioner is required to appear, the work of the doctor in the hospital shall suffer and a large number of patients would be deprived of the services of such medical specialist," the court said.
Reiterating that the relevance of medico legal reports in cases of injury, homicide or suicide is enormous, the bench said, "The medical reports, however, are written in such shabby handwriting that they are not readable and decipherable by advocates or Judges."
The bench had earlier directed the medical department that the doctors must prepare legible medical reports with clear depictions and on HC's directions the DG (Medical and Health Services) had also issued a circular on November 8, 2012 but to no avail.
In recent days, the bench summoned many doctors for reading the illegible reports and later imposed cost upon them also so that the doctors should mend their ways but the situation did not improve.
Hearing the petition moved by one Arjun Singh, the court had to yet again summon a doctor from Amethi Community Health Centre (CHC) for reading the injury report.
Coaxed with the exercise to summon the doctor, the bench directed the concerned state authorities to avail computers and printers for preparing typed copy of every original report.
The bench has also summoned the compliance report.
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Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
