Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 20: Highlighting the significance of a doctor acting as the first responder to the victim of domestic or sexual violence, the Chief Justice of J&K High Court, Justice Gita Mittal today said the dying declaration of a victim supported by the testimony of the doctor, could send the people involved in the crime to gallows.
The Chief Justice was speaking at a day-long training programme for presiding officers and doctors on how to handle survivors of sexual violence at hospitals. The training held under the banner of High Court of J&K was organized in collaboration with the Health Department J&K State Judicial Academy.
Justice Alok Aradhe, Chairman of State Judicial Academy, Abdul Rashid Malik, Director State Judicial Academy, Yash Pal Bourney, Member Secretary, State Legal Service Authority, Dr Farida Noor, Professor and Head, Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, and doctors from various State Government hospitals were present in the meeting.
Addressing the galaxy of doctors and legal experts, the Chief Justice said the purpose of holding this programme is to explain the significant role a doctor plays in helping a victim to get justice at times.
She said, “in a case of domestic violence, a doctor while trying to ascertain the reasons behind the patient’s condition, usually records the patient’s history. “If the victim dies, the same statement recorded by the doctor before the death of the patient may be treated by the Judge as the “dying declaration” of the victim. The dying declaration, supported by the testimony of the doctor confirming that the victim actually made that statement, can be relied upon to convict the husband or the in-laws or whosoever, has committed the crime, and at times it could even be relied upon to send the accused to gallows”.
The CJ urged for holding a frequent conversation between doctors and lawyers to remove the doubts that gets created at various instances while delivering the professional duties.
She deliberated what needs to be done if the medical examination of a victim of sexual violence records no evidence of rape.
“Rape is not a medical term. It is certainly not taught in the medical books. It has been interpreted after the 2013 amendment to the law and has several nuances and connotations, including outraging modesty and other terms. These are all legal expressions. So what the doctor has to record while doing a medical examination of a patient is debatable,” she added.
She also explained the reason why it is important to sensitize the doctors regarding some legal knowledge and how they are supposed to react when they get a summon from the court.
“If a doctor is supposed to come to court as a witness, however, at the same time he gets an emergency call from the hospital to attend a patient urgently. What should a doctor do in such a circumstance? Whether to go to court and or to attend the patient and face the legal warrant afterwards. Therefore, it is important that doctors are aware with the law and how to deal in such circumstances,” said the Chief Justice.
During the day, the resource persons Dr Jagadeesh Narayan Reddy, and Vidya Reddy, presented and discussed various issues at length with the participants.
The discussion on gender issues revolved around on understanding circumstances and context in which sexual violence occurs, while as forensic issues during survivor’s examination were deliberated upon under legal issues and laws governing sessions.
Resource person Vidya Reddy made participants understand the importance of understanding child sexual abuse.
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