In a major relief to the arrested Visakhapatnam doctor N Prabhakar Babu in connection with an illegal kidney transplantation involving a Cuttack woman, the Odisha High Court on Thursday granted a conditional bail to the surgeon, who had been in judicial custody here since July 3.
In an interim order on the habeas corpus writ filed by the doctor’s wife N Rathnakumari, Justices Indrajit Mahanti and Sangam Kumar Sahoo held the arrest and detention of Babu as “illegal”.
Stating that the Cuttack city police had no jurisdiction and power to arrest the doctor from Vizag under the Transplantation of Human Organ Act, the High Court held that the registration of the FIR in this connection was also “unlawful”.
Ordering the State Government to release the doctor as his arrest and detention were infringing the Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution, the High Court also directed the State government to create policies with respect to organ transplantations in conformity with the statutory law.
Deciding to further monitor the sensational case, which has serious ramifications in the State as several innocent and poor people have complained about the existence of a racket dealing with illegal organ transplantations in the State, the HC adjourned the case to October.
Counsels appearing for the petitioner said the HC has directed to release Prabhakar Babu after furnishing bail bonds of properties worth Rs10 lakh with two sureties.
Babu was also asked to produce a bank guarantee of Rs2 lakh to be deposited either in his account or in the accounts of any of his family members.
The doctor was arrested by a team of Cuttack city police from his SevenHills Hospital premises in Vishakhapatnam on June 17 this year. He was booked under Section 18 of the Transplantation of Human Organ Act and under Sections 467, 471, 324 and 34 of IPC and was brought here on transit remand.