Minor girl’s murder: Three doctors get 3 years’ jail for incorrect post-mortem report in UP

The chief judicial magistrate’s court sentenced three doctors to a three-year jail term each for having prepared an incorrect post-mortem report of a 14-year-old girl who was murdered on the Nighasan police station campus of Lakhimpur Kheri district in June 2011.

The court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Sunil Prasad also slapped a fine of ₹10,000 on each of the three doctors who had carried out the first post-mortem in the case.

Prosecuting officer SP Yadav said the three convicted doctors were granted bail under Section 389 of the Criminal Procedure Code after the verdict.

Yadav said Dr Surendra Pratap Singh, Dr Ajay Kumar Agrawal and Dr Arun Kumar Sharma, who were then posted at the Kheri district hospital, had described the cause of death to be hanging in their post-mortem report on June 11, 2011.

However, a second post-mortem by a panel of four doctors established the cause of death as strangulation, he added.

The prosecuting officer said CB-CID inspector Harpal Singh had lodged a first information report under Section 218 of the Indian Penal Code on charges of misrepresenting facts in their post-mortem report. He added that during trial, the charges were proved and the court sentenced the three doctors.

A 14-year-old girl was found dead on the Nighasan police station campus on June 10, 2011. The girl, along with her brother, had gone to the area to graze her cattle but later her body was found hanging from the branch of an uprooted tree.

Her mother, who alleged rape and murder, lodged an FIR. The incident led to a nationwide uproar.

On June 11, 2011, the then Kheri SP DK Rai cited a post-mortem report by a three-member team of district hospital doctors to describe hanging as the cause of death.

However, the girl’s mother stuck to her allegation and her view was echoed by a number of politicians. The then BSP government ordered a fresh post-mortem by a team of doctors of other districts, besides handing over the investigation to the CB-CID on June 12, 2011. The second post-mortem established the cause of death to be strangulation. But it ruled out rape.

The fresh report led to the suspension of the entire Nighasan police station staff. Later, the then Kheri superintendent of police was shunted out.

Amid mounting pressure, the then BSP government handed over the case to the CBI on September 13, 2011. In 2015, the trial of the case was shifted to the CBI court in Lucknow.