The Kerala Cabinet on Wednesday approved the new guidelines brought out by the Home department on the protocols to be followed when individuals ( arrested individuals or remand prisoners) are to be presented for medical/medico-legal examination before the magistrate or registered medical practitioners in hospitals.
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Accordingly, the medico-legal protocol published on May 7, 2022 will be amended.
One of the main suggestions being included in the medico-legal protocol is that the police officials who are taking a person into custody should collect adequate information and observe the person closely and ascertain the physical, mental status of the individual and whether he/she is a substance abuser.
Any suspicion regarding the physical/mental / substance abuse state of the person being taken into custody should be written down in the personal notebook and in the general diary when brought into the police station.
If the person is directly taken to the hospital for medical examination, this information about the mental/physical state of the person in custody should be informed to the police station. The same information should be informed ahead to the hospital employees before the person is taken there.
Breath analyser should be used before taking a person for medical examination.
Persons who might display aggressive or violent behaviour under the influence of alcohol/ narcotic or psychotropic drugs should be physically restrained or handcuffed and safety ensured before presenting him/her before the doctor for medical examination.
In fact, police officials should ascertain judiciously whether there are chances of the person becoming violent.
The guidelines also say that the police should ensure that the person being taken into custody is not in possession of poison/narcotic substances, any weapon or instruments that may be used as a weapon to cause self-harm or harm to others.
Adequate number of police personnel should accompany the person being taken for medical examination and that the police officials will be responsible for ensuring the safety of healthcare workers involved in the medical examination.
The medical practitioner should be warned about the person’s aggression and unless the doctor gives specific instruction to move away, police officials should not stay far from the person in custody.
The guidelines also suggest that the police should not take at a time, more than one person involved in drunken driving or display of unruly/violent behaviour in public, to the casualty for medical examination and that adequate protection be ensured for health workers
The medical practitioner should also take care to remove or secure any instrument in the hospital that may be used as a weapon
If the service of senior doctors have been ensured, then house surgeons and junior residents should be exempted from giving medical care to the arrested person. However, in the absence of seniors, they may be called upon to attend emergency cases.
In the event of any violence against medical officers, FIR should be registered within an hour citing the provisions in the Kerala Healthcare Service Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act 2023 and the charge sheet should be submitted in court within 60 days.
A district-level monitoring committee should be formed and it should meet at specific intervals to ensure that the guidelines are being followed.
