THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Justice K Narayana Kurup commission of inquiry, which probed the custodial torture of Rajkumar by Nedumkandam police and his subsequent death, has found serious lapses on the part of doctors at Nedumkandam and Peermade taluk hospitals and Kottayam medical college hospital.
Rajkumar of Kolahalamedu, Idukki — who was taken into police custody on June12, 2019 — had died nine days later after he was brutally tortured in police custody.
The commission report, tabled in the assembly, explains in detail the “callous and irresponsible” behaviour of these doctors, who failed in diagnosing Rajkumar’s actual condition when he was taken to these hospitals.
“They, the doctors in all the three hospitals, forgot for a moment that Rajkumar was brought by the police in a moribund condition, after making him a mincemeat, unable to walk, speak or move, and in such a scenario, they should have suspected custodial torture..,” it says.
Insulate docs from policeAt Nedumkandam taluk hospital, where Rajkumar was brought after three days in custody, unable to walk or speak, casualty medical officer Vishnu Mohan — despite suspecting police assault — only advised him to be kept under observation.
The next day, he was examined by another doctor, Padmadev P N, who without fully examining his body issued a medical certificate to police for producing him before the judicial magistrate, the report says.
‘Victim had gained 8kg in 6 days’Though he was in the hospital for 18 hours, no one cared to examine him to ascertain his actual medical condition to bring out the “iceberg phenomenon”, wherein, a large percentage of the hidden problem is submerged from view and only the tip is seen from outside, it finds.
The report said the victim had gained 8kg in six days due to the fluid overload, after suffering grave internal injuries from torture.
At Peermade taluk hospital, where he was brought from Peerumedu sub-jail after his condition worsened, he was examined by doctors inside the ambulance, where once again they missed all injuries on his back, despite noticing the swellings on knees and ankles.
The doctor who examined him stated before the commission that he did not suspect the patient of having any visible injury and did not get sufficient time to examine him thoroughly.
Rajkumar was taken to Kottayam medical college hospital at the behest of doctors at Peermade taluk hospital.
He was examined by orthopaedics senior resident Libin Thomas Manathara, urology senior resident Mohammed Anwar Aslam, surgery additional professor Sunil and radiology senior resident K Vivek, to whom Rajkumar mentioned about the police assault, as per the commission findings.
The inquiry also found that the first post-mortem examination by doctors at Kottayam MCH — led by associate professor and deputy police surgeon Jameskutty B K and medical officer, department of forensic medicine Subiraj Natarajan — was casual, perfunctory, amateurish and without following the NHRC guidelines.
It found that the post-mortem certificate “maintained a suspicious silence on major contusions suffered by Rajkumar”, which was brought out in the second autopsy by a team of forensic surgeons as instructed by the commission.
The commission found that the first autopsy was only a half-truth, in which torture and complications of multiple blunt force injuries etc did not find a place.
The autopsy report was unclear and ambiguous with the distinct possibility of people thinking that the deceased had died due to pneumonia and not torture, it said.
“But for the re-autopsy performed by a team of three forensic surgeons as ordered by the commission, the death of Rajkumar would have been a riddle wrapped in mystery,” the commission said.