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This is an archive article published on January 5, 2011

Kerala lecturer attack: SC relief for doctor

The Supreme Court has refused to interfere with a Kerala High Court order granting bail to a doctor who had allegedly treated one of the men who had chopped off the hand of a professor in July last year.

The Supreme Court has refused to interfere with a Kerala High Court order granting bail to a doctor who had allegedly treated one of the men who had chopped off the hand of a professor in July last year.

Prof T J Jacob of Newman College,Thodupuzha,was attacked on July 4 for setting a question paper that was allegedly blasphemous.

The Kerala High Court had earlier granted bail to Raneef,named as an accused in the FIR for giving medical aid to one of Prof Jacob’s assailants.

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A bench of Justices Markandeya Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra,while deciding an appeal filed by the Kerala government on Monday,observed: “We are of the opinion that at this stage there is no prima facie proof that the respondent (Raneef) was involved in the crime.”

Raneef,a dentist in Ernakulam district,is listed as an accused in the case for various offences under provisions of the IPC,Explosive Substances Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

His role is limited to applying stitches to one of the assailants who was injured when Professor Jacob’s son tried to save his father.

Justice Katju observed,“The respondent,being a doctor,was under the Hippocratic oath to attempt to heal a patient. Just as it is the duty of a lawyer to defend an accused,so it is the duty of a doctor to heal. Even a dentist can apply stitches in an emergency.”

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The court also refused to agree with the prosecution’s argument that doctor was a member of an alleged terrorist organisation,the Popular Front of India.

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