Investigating officers have expressed concerns over loss of crucial evidence in cases of sexual abuse of minor girls as doctors in Odisha do not entertain medical examination of rape survivors after 5 pm.
After receiving a large number of complaints from investigating officers, State Home Department wrote to Health and Family Welfare department that, “there is an inordinate delay in cases being taken up by doctors at the District Headquarter Hospitals especially if a victim comes after working hours.”
“Doctors do not entertain the medical examination requests after 5 pm as a result of which the victim either goes back to her home or has to be accommodated in a short stay home by the police. This delay often leads to loss of precious evidence which could have supported the case investigation process,” Health department was told.
Besides, requirement of permission of the Additional District Medical Officers for each and every case further delays the process, investigating officers inform.
“The results of the medical examination are usually inconclusive and do not provide any support to the case investigation process. It seems that there is a standardised text which is being used by the examining doctor across all districts,” point out Home Department by sending some sample reports.
Stating that in sexual abuse cases related to minors, the statement of the victim and the medical examination report are key instruments that can lead to the conviction of the accused, Home department requested the Health Department to issue suitable instructions to all doctors that timely and conclusive medical examination reports for minor victims of sexual abuse should obtained for effective conviction of the accused
It needs to be mentioned that number of rape cases in Odisha had increased to 2286 in 2015 compared to 2011 in 2014 despite the fact that state government claims to have taken several steps to reduce crime against women. When contacted Dr. Chitta Ranjan Nayak, Director of Health Services of Odisha, said, “we usually do not do post-mortem in the evening hours due to visibility issues. But I am not aware of doctors refusing entertain medical examination of rape survivors.”
With regards to allegation of standardised text being used by doctors in their examination reports, Dr. Nayak said the format was given by Home Department only while doctors only filled up the paper with their findings.
