HC refuses to quash FIR against 5 Jabalpur docs in abetment to suicide case

Bhopal/Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh high court has rejected the plea of five doctors from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, Jabalpur, seeking quashing of an FIR lodged against them under Section 306 of the IPC in the death of their junior during the post-graduation course.

The doctors argued that they had been cleared by the college’s anti-ragging committee, and that the deceased was under depression, mental stress and financial trouble. They said he had suicidal tendencies and died because of his mental condition, not because of ragging, humiliation or harassment by them.

The court, however, said there was enough material at first sight to proceed against the accused and that their defence should be placed before the trial court.

The FIR was filed on the complaint of the deceased’s brother after the victim was found hanging in his hostel room on Oct 1, 2020. After the probe, police filed a charge-sheet against the five doctors, who were seniors of Bhagwat Devangan in the postgraduate Orthopaedics course, for abetment to suicide.

Justice B P Sharma, after hearing the case, said the charge-sheet and witness statements showed strong material suggesting continuous harassment, humiliation and ragging of the deceased by the petitioners. “The allegations are not confined merely to ordinary workplace discipline or isolated verbal exchanges. The material collected during investigation specifically reflects allegations of repeated abuse, physical punishment and humiliation in the operation theatre, forcing the deceased to assume humiliating positions, assaulting him, compelling him to perform excessive work and continuously target him despite knowledge of his fragile mental condition,” the court said.

The court also noted that witness statements were recorded under Sections 161 and 164 of the CrPC.

It said the argument that the deceased was depressed, short of money and had earlier shown suicidal tendencies may be part of the defence, but that by itself cannot clear the accused at this stage when prosecution material says they continued to harass and humiliate him despite knowing his condition.

The court said it will be for the trial court to decide whether the suicide was only due to depression and financial problems or whether the doctors’ conduct also played a role in pushing him to take the extreme step.

The judges also said the anti-ragging committee’s findings do not help the petitioners at this stage. A college or departmental inquiry is different from a criminal case, and the fact that the committee did not find enough material for action inside the institution does not cancel the criminal investigation, especially when police have collected separate evidence.

The court said that while hearing a plea to quash an FIR, it has to see whether there is prima facie material, not whether the prosecution will surely win the case. It then dismissed the petition.