By Supriya Ramesh

New Delhi, Feb 14 (IANS): A Delhi court has set aside an order passed by the Metropolitan Magistrate directing the registration of FIR against a paediatric surgeon in a case accusing him of removing a two-year-old boy's kidney during nephrectomy in 2005, alleging criminal medical negligence.

The complainant had alleged that Dr. Y.K. Sarin, who is the head of the department of Paediatric Surgery at Lok Nayak Hospital, with his team, removed the left kidney of the complainant's son while he was undergoing nephrectomy.

It was alleged that at the time the kidney was removed, it was functional which led to criminal medical negligence, the complaint read.

In 2021, Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Rishabh Kapoor directed that an FIR be registered.

Appearing for the accused (Dr. Sarin) in the revision petition filed before Additional District Judge Dheeraj Mor of a Tiz Hazari court, advocate Namit Saxena argued that there were five enquiries conducted at various levels, including Delhi Medical Council, National Human Rights Commission and Director General of Health Sciences.

"In all enquiries, a clean chit was given to Dr. Sarin, who is an extremely reputed medical professional in the field," Saxena said.

He further argued that in view of the ratio laid down by the Supreme Court in Jacob Matthew's case, the MM ought not to have replaced his opinion on the opinion of all expert medical boards and in absence of any independent medical enquiry, FIR cannot be directed to be registered.

On November 25, 2021, the Additional District Court had stayed the direction to register FIR against the said doctor.

After hearing the parties at length, Judge Mor set aside the order passed by the MM and held that FIR cannot be directed to be registered.