Supreme Court fines two Gurgaon hospital doctors

NEW DELHI: In a warning to hospitals and doctors, which help convicted politicians to feign illness to dodge the long arms of the law, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked a Gurgaon hospital administrator and a doctor to pay Rs 70 lakh each with the court for the poor who take ill.

The top court, led by former Chief Justice of India T S Thakur, had earlier initiated contempt action against the errant politician, a member of the Haryana legislative council and the two doctors, for helping him evade arrest for 527 days on the ground on the specious plea that he was ill. The MLC Balbir alias Bali, was charged for the 2011 murder of a businessman in Haryana’s Rohtak district.

He subsequently got bail from the High Court. But in 2013, the top court acting on an appeal filed by a family member of the deceased cancelled his bail.

Bali instead of surrendering, managed to stay hospitalised despite a trial court issuing five non-bailable warrants against him. The dead man’s family members then moved the top court for contempt of court and that court ordered a CBI inquiry into the entire episode.

Following the enquiry which showed that the MLC did not have a single test conducted while in hospital or pay a single rupee to the hospital, the court found the hospital’s MD and a doctor guilty of obstruction of justice.

The court noted that the ailments did not warrant any hospitalisation. The records also showed that he routinely had visitors and went in and out of the hospital umpteen times.