Hearing on the habeas corpus writ petition filed by the arrested Vishakhapatnam-based doctor’s wife was completed in the Odisha High Court on Thursday. The Division Bench of Justices Indrajit Mohanti and Sangam Kumar Sahoo reserved the judgement, which is likely to be announced on Monday.
Arrested by the Cuttack police in connection with an illegal kidney transplantation involving a Cuttack woman, Director of SevenHills Hospital Dr N Prabhakar Babu is now under judicial custody here since July 3. He was taken under custody by the police on June 17. The doctor’s wife N Rathnakumari had sought the court’s intervention for immediate release of her ailing husband.
Arguing Rathnakumari’s case, her counsel Jayant Das had earlier told the court that the provisions of Transplantation of Human Organs Act-1994 under which the doctor has been arrested are not applicable in this case. Das had also argued that the arrest was illegal since the police had not followed the provisions of Sections 40 and 41 (a) of CrPC. He was not immediately produced before a magistrate after his arrest, Das had argued.
In reply on Thursday, State Advocate General Ashok Mohanty, admitting that the police had no authority to arrest the doctor under the provisions of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, stated that the accused was arrested under Sections 467, 471, 324 and 34 of IPC as he carried out the organ transplantation without following the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court.
After the Government’s stand was made clear in the court, the petitioner’s counsel gave oral reply and was asked by the judges to submit a written note of his argument by Friday. Jayant Das was assisted by his associates Satyabrata Pradhan and Aditya Das.