2 Ghaziabad hospitals to pay Rs 12 lakh to family of 4-year-old rape-murder victim

“We are further inclined to issue some guidelines to ensure timely medical care and proper handling of such cases,” the bench also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said.

The court has been monitoring the case after the victim’s father, a daily wager, sought a court-monitored probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) or the Central Bureau of Investigation.

On April 24, the Supreme Court directed the setting up of an SIT after the father accused local police of insensitivity. He also alleged that though the child was rushed to the two hospitals, they did not provide emergency medical care and that she could have been saved with timely intervention.

Clear case of negligence: Girl’s father

On Friday, Senior Advocate N Hariharan, appearing for the girl’s father, said the SIT report gave a “damning” picture of the conduct of the hospitals. “It is a clear case of negligence on the part of the hospitals. The first hospital had the facility of calling doctors, but they neither called them nor informed anyone and simply decided to pass on the patient to the next hospital. The next hospital was a multispecialty hospital with innumerable departments. They could have treated the child. The child would have been alive,” Hariharan argued.

On police negligence, he said the First Information Report, registered after a delay of 30 hours, only invoked the offence of murder and not rape.

The senior counsel said that though the Supreme Court had intervened in this matter, there are hundreds of similar cases where nothing happens. The bench said it will issue some guidelines in this regard and asked Hariharan to give suggestions.