A surgeon in Chhattisgarh has been sentenced to two years in jail for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, following the tragic deaths of 12 women after a sterilisation camp in 2014, highlighting issues of medical negligence.
Key Points
- A Chhattisgarh court sentenced a surgeon to two years in jail for culpable homicide related to the deaths of 12 women after a 2014 sterilisation camp.
- The surgeon, Dr. R.K. Gupta, was found guilty of negligence during the sterilisation surgeries, leading to septicaemia.
- The court also imposed fines for each death and additional minor charges, all to be served concurrently.
- Five individuals associated with pharmaceutical firms were acquitted due to lack of evidence linking them to the contaminated medication controversy.
- The surgeon was granted bail due to the sentence being less than three years, as per legal provisions.
A court in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur has sentenced a surgeon to two years of jail term in connection with the deaths of 12 women following sterilisation surgeries conducted by him here in 2014.
The court of First District and Additional Sessions Judge Shailesh Kumar Ketarap on Tuesday convicted surgeon Dr R K Gupta under the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and awarded him two years of imprisonment, Additional Public Prosecutor Devendra Rao Somawar said on Wednesday.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 for each of the 12 deaths, he said.
The court also sentenced Gupta under other charges, awarding six months' imprisonment with a fine of Rs 500 under one section, and one month's jail with a fine of Rs 100 under another. All sentences will run concurrently, he said.
Details of the Sterilisation Camp
The case relates to a sterilisation camp held on November 8, 2014, at a private hospital in Pendari near Sakri village in Takhatpur block of Bilaspur district. A total of 83 women from nearby rural areas were brought to the camp for sterilisation procedures, he said.
According to the prosecution, Dr Gupta, who was then a senior surgeon at the district hospital, conducted all the surgeries within a span of about three hours. Soon after the operations, the women fell ill and were admitted to different hospitals, including district and CIMS (Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences) hospitals in Bilaspur, where 12 of them died.
The prosecution said the deaths were linked to alleged negligence during surgeries leading to septicaemia, as well as controversy over contaminated post-operative medication.
Acquittal of Pharmaceutical Firm Representatives
Following an investigation, the police had filed a chargesheet against Dr Gupta and five individuals associated with two drug supply firms - Ramesh and Sumit Mahavar of Mahavar Pharma firm, and Rakesh, Rajesh and Manish Khare of Kavita Pharmaceuticals. However, the court acquitted all five accused linked to the pharmaceutical firms due to lack of evidence, he said.
Since the sentence awarded to Gupta is less than three years, the court granted him bail as per legal provisions, the prosecutor added.
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