TN doctors protest over assault on Chennai oncologist; Medical services not affected, says official
Chennai (PTI): Doctors across Tamil Nadu staged a protest on Thursday condemning the brutal attack on a government oncologist at a hospital here, and also demanded safety for medical professionals.
The strike by the members of the Indian Medical Association and Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association has not affected the medical services to the patients at the government facility, an official said and claimed that the senior oncologist Balaji, assaulted by the son of a patient in the outpatient room on Wednesday, was responding well to treatment.
State Health Minister Ma Subramanian visited Balaji Jegannathan, associate professor, medical oncology, Kalaignar Centenary Super Specialty Hospital (KCSSH), Guindy, here, earlier in the day and enquired about his health condition.
“There has been good progress in Dr Balaji's health. His vitals are good without any support. He had breakfast in the morning. He spoke to the Minister of Health saying he is doing well and sought to be shifted to ward,” KCSSH director Dr L Parthasarathy said.
When reporters asked about Wednesday’s violent attack on hospital premises, he replied, “one is bound to be emotionally upset if diagnosed with cancer. The patient was admitted after the doctors explained about the treatment options to her.”
On whether the strike affected the medical services to the patients, he said that there were sufficient numbers of doctors to attend to about 500 to 600 inpatients and those in ICU at KCSSH.
“I hope the issue will be resolved amicably soon,” Parthasarathy added.
The 1,000 bedded Kalaignar Centenary Super Speciality Hospital, where the crime occurred, was inaugurated a year ago. In addition to this facility, the National Centre of Aging (NCA), and the King Institute are functioning on the sprawling campus near the Guindy railway station.
“There's an outpost near the NCA. Police officials said they would establish outposts in all the hospitals lacking such facility," the director said.
The protest was announced to create awareness among the public and not intended to affect the patients. All medicare facilities were being provided to the patients without any let up, he added.
Subramanian later informed that Dr Balaji was recovering well and would be shifted to the ward today after tests.
Speaking to reporters after visiting the recuperating doctor, the Minister said all government medical colleges, district headquarters hospitals and taluk hospitals would provide (temporary) identity tags to the patients’ attendants.
“The four-colour tag system for patients’ attendants was introduced at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in early October and it will be expanded to other government facilities,” the Minister said.
He said the police have registered cases under seven sections of the BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita) including an attempt to murder on the attacker Vignesh, who was caught by the hospital staff and public and handed over to the police.
The assailant was allegedly frustrated over the treatment given to his mother who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in an advanced stage.
“I am stable. They have checked my pacemaker. I am being given antibiotics for the sutures (to seven stab injuries),” Dr Balaji said.
When the Health Minister asked him “How are you feeling Dr Balaji,” immediately he replied, “I am recovering well” and demonstrated by eating breakfast.
Balaji was stated to have expressed his desire to continue his service to the patients at KCSSH, inspite of the shocking attack on him.
According to the Dean of RGGGH Dr E Therani Rajan, the hospital has not compromised its OPD services on account of the strike.
“Some doctors wanted to protest against the stabbing incident. We did not interfere. Otherwise everything is going on smoothly,” he said.
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
