INDIA: Government hospital negligence and police inaction in the killing of a woman 

INDIA: Corrupt policing and poor quality of investigation; nexus between the police and criminals; impunity; poor quality of government hospitals; failure of the rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from its local partner MASUM in West Bengal regarding the gross negligence of government hospitals and police inaction regarding a fatal attack on a woman. It was reported that several government hospitals refused to provide emergency medical treatment to the seriously injured victim, which resulted into her untimely death. It was also reported that the local police apparently delayed filing a non-bailable charge against the alleged perpetrators despite the complaint by the relatives of the victim and indirectly helped them to be bailed out by the court. It is believed that the police inaction is due to the nexus between the police and the alleged perpetrators, who are rich and influential figures in the area.

CASE DETAILS:

The family of Mrs. Gouri Naskar (35) of Tentulpara, Naskarpara, Garia village under the control of the Sonarpura Police Station in South 24 Pargana District, West Bengal, India had a longstanding dispute with the family of her husband’s uncle, Mr. Bholanath Naskar, regarding a piece of land, that has not been demarcated. Mr. Bholanath, who is a wealthy and influential man in the area, allegedly used his influence and illegally constructed a boundary wall at the common entrance of the two families for the concerned land. This caused great difficulty to the victim’s family to access the land and the victim’s husband Mr. Sushil Naskar lodged several complaints with different responsible authorities but received no response from any of them.

At around 9:30pm on 8 August 2006, two sons of Mr. Bholanath assaulted Mrs. Gouri’s 10-year-old son. When she protested against the beating of her son, Mr. Bholanth and another son joined the two men and they all brutally attacked Mrs. Gouri with bamboo sticks and concrete rods. As a result, the victim was seriously injured on her head.

Mrs. Gouri was then immediately brought to Bangur Hospital of Kolkata. However, after assessing her condition as critical, hospital officials refused to provide further medical treatment to her and released her the very next day (August 9). Mrs. Gouri was then taken to Chittaranjan Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, where again the doctors refused to admit her after scanning her head, merely saying that the hospital did not have proper equipment for her treatment. Then Mrs. Gouri was again taken to other government hospitals; National Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata and S.S.K.M. Hospital, Kolkata but both places also refused to admit her after observing the seriousness of her injuries, saying that they had no available beds. Accordingly, Mrs. Gouri’s family was forced to bring her back home because at that time they did not have enough money to admit her in a private hospital.

On August 11, Mrs. Gouri’s family somehow managed to collect the money from the relatives and admitted her in a private clinic by spending Rs 35,000 (USD 783) but Mrs. Gouri ultimately succumbed to her head injuries on August 14.

Meanwhile, two days after the incident on August 10, Mrs. Sandhya Naskar, the sister of the victim’s husband, lodged a complaint against the four concerned men with the Sonarpura police station and the First Information Report was registered under sections 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (FIR no. 260/06 dated 10/08/06). However, the police did not take any action to investigate the incident and arrest the alleged perpetrators. They did not even visit the place of the incident.

Furthermore, the Sonarpura police unnecessarily delayed to add section 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of IPC, a non-bailable charge, in the charge sheet against the alleged perpetrators for 46 days after the victim’s death until September 30. Taking advantage of the deliberately delayed police action, on September 12 all the alleged perpetrators successfully obtained bail from the Court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) of Alipore, which was not aware the victim’s death and treated the case as a bailable one. It is reported that the perpetrators are now arrogantly intimidating the victim’s family not to pursue the case against them. To date, the Sonarpura police have not yet taken any serious action to investigate the incident and arrest the alleged perpetrators. The victim’s family believes that the police inaction is due to the nexus between the police and the alleged perpetrators, who are rich and influential figures in the area.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

In fact, Mrs. Gouri’s case is yet another case relating to the nexus between the influential criminals and local police. The AHRC has constantly raised its serous concern about this matter by reporting several cases relating to this issue. They include: UA-351-2006, UA-375-2006 and UA-370-2006.

In the normal investigating procedure by the police, the first step is to register a First Information Report (FIR) instantly under relevant sections of respective Laws. However, in many cases, the police refuse to register the FIR or deliberately delay to register the FIR to give the alleged culprits a chance to escape. In the second step, the police must also investigate and file the charge sheet at the local court which entertains jurisdiction over the case without undue delay. However, it is common practice in India that the police fail to investigate or initiate any action against the criminals due to corruption.

An effectively functioning criminal justice system is the primary requisite for establishing the rule of law and policing is the backbone of the criminal justice system. No rights whether they be civil and political or economic, social and cultural would find meaning without a properly functioning criminal justice mechanism. While the superior courts in India and the government of India itself boasts about the luminous judgments rendered by the Apex Court of the country, in many rural villages in India none of these judgments or any laws are enforced even to the bare minimum. India is a country where 71% of its 1.2 billion populations reside in villages. This means that for an alarming section of India’s 852 million rural population rule of law and governance makes no sense.

Moreover, in this case, the victim was further victimized by the poor public health system, particularly the government hospitals. If the victim had received timely and proper medical treatment, she could have survived. The problem is that numerous numbers of civilians in India are suffering from very poor service from the governmental hospitals. They are forced to go to very costly private clinics to receive proper treatment but for those who don’t have enough money, this is not an available option.  To see further details about the failure of the public health system in India, please also refer to: UA-270-2006 and UA-206-2006.

The Supreme Court of India has already acknowledged this matter and gave direction in the case of Paschim Bangal Khet Mazdoor Samity and others Vs State of Bengal (refer to: All India Reporter (AIR) 1996, page 2426). The Supreme Court stated in the judgment that “failure on the part of the Government Hospitals to provide timely medical treatment to a person in need of such treatment results in violation of her ‘Right to Life’ guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution”. Therefore it is one of the most essential obligations of the state is to provide timely proper medical treatment to the people irrespective of any discrimination. The AHRC holds to its firm opinion that the failure of government hospitals to provide the emergency medical treatment to the victim violated her right to life and strongly urges the Indian government to ensure that adequate compensation is given to the victim’s family.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the relevant authorities and urge them to intervene into this matter immediately. Please urge them to order a prompt and thorough investigation about the inaction of Sonarpura police and take steps to arrest the alleged perpetrators. Please also write to initiate the enquiry against the gross violation of ‘right to life’ of the victim by government hospitals in West Bengal. The AHRC is also writing to Mr. Paul Hunt, UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health regarding this matter.

 

 

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