People stand in front of a baby care hospital where several newborns died in a fire, in New Delhi.
Credit: Reuters Photo
New Delhi: A court on Monday dismissed the bail plea of an on-duty doctor of a private hospital where a fire on May 25 killed seven newborns and injured five, saying no logical reason was given why despite being an ayurvedic doctor, the accused was working in the most critical ward of the facility.
The court also denounced as 'highly insensitive' the statement of the doctor that the infants were not victims of the blaze as they died due to suffocation and not burns.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vidhi Gupta Anand was hearing the bail plea of Dr Akash, who was on duty when the fire broke out at the hospital. He and the owner of the hospital, Dr Naveen Khichi, were sent to judicial custody for 14 days on May 30.
Rejecting the argument that Dr Akash was working at the hospital as a trainee, the court said the investigation has revealed that he provided treatment and gave prescriptions to the infants.
"Despite knowing that he was entitled to practise only in Haryana as a Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) doctor as per the certificate of the Medical Council of Haryana, accused Dr Akash willingly started working in the most-sensitive zone of the hospital, i.e, Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)," the court said.
"No logical reason has been given as to why despite being a BAMS doctor, Dr Akash was keen to learn practices of allopathic medicine and that too by working in the critical ward of the hospital," it added.
The court trashed the argument of the doctor's counsel that he should be lauded for his efforts to save children.
"The police investigation reveals that he had run away from the hospital when the fire began and rather than calling the police or the fire services, he called the owner of the hospital and in the entire process, almost half an hour was wasted which could have saved the lives of newborn babies," it said.
The court said the statement of the accused's lawyer that the infants were not victims of the fire as they died due to suffocation and not burn injuries was 'highly insensitive' and did not have any merit.
"It is without any doubt that the alleged offences are serious in nature and the investigation is at initial stages, and there are several aspects of the investigation, such as the supervisory role of the accused, collection of the prescriptions signed by him, his role in delaying the call to the police/fire services etc., which are yet to be investigated upon in detail," it added.
The court said the possibility of the doctor fleeing the process of law and influencing witnesses cannot be ruled out.
It said according to judicial precedents, the accused has to approach a higher court of a sessions judge for bail.
"The application for bail of the accused is accordingly dismissed," the court said.
A massive fire broke out on the night of May 25 at the Baby Care New Born Child Hospital in east Delhi's Vivek Vihar that was allegedly being run illegally with an 'expired' licence and without any clearance from the fire department.
A case has been registered at the Vivek Vihar police station under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 336 (act endangering life and personal safety of others), 304A (causing death by negligence), 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide).
The two doctors were arrested on May 26 and remanded in three-day police custody the next day.