In a remarkable decision, the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has held a Government doctor guilty of negligence in treating a minor girl for which she died an untimely death. Viewing this as a violation of human rights, the OHRC has ordered the Government to pay a damage of Rs 2 lakh to the father of the deceased and observed that the compensation amount be collected from the tainted doctor.
Adjudicating a petition filed by human rights activist and Orissa High Court lawyer Prabir Kumar Das, OHRC Acting Chairman Justice (Retd) BK Mishra held Dr Bhaskar Chandra Kar responsible for the death of eight-year-old girl Sujata Nayak of Pattamundai in Kendrapada district two years ago.
Suffering from pneumonia, Sujata had been brought to Pattamundai CHC at around 4 am on April 10, 2015 when Dr Kar was resting in his duty room locking the door from inside. After repeated attempts by the hospital staffs and others, Dr Kar did not open the door. “Around 6 am, he came out of the room in an inebriated state and declared the minor girl to be brought dead,” said the petition quoting the police complaint filed by the girl’s father.
Corroborating the facts of the matter with that of the report filed by the Kendrapada SP, the OHRC concluded that this negligence on the part of the doctor is a clear violence of human rights under Section 18 (a) and (e) of the Protection of Human Rights Act.
Holding that the State Government is liable to compensate the family of the deceased, the commission ordered that the damage amount be collected from the doctor and paid within eight weeks.