The Bombay high court has quashed proceedings initiated against Dr Dilip Burte, the psychiatrist who had allegedly treated state transport (ST) driver Santosh Mane two years before the latter mowed down nine people and injured 36 others in Pune in 2012. Dr Burte was accused of giving false evidence and fabricating documents before the trial court.
A division bench of justices VM Kanade and PD Kode have sent the matter back to the magistrate for fresh consideration. They passed the order while hearing an appeal filed by the doctor against a magistrate court order directing the police to lodge an FIR against him.
Dr Burte had allegedly treated Mane for mental illness between February 2010 and April 2010, said his counsel Ashutosh Kumbhkoni. After Mane's arrest on January 25, 2012, the police approached Burte and collected Mane's prescriptions and case papers.
Dr Burte was also examined as defence witness before the trial court where he testified that Mane was suffering from mental illness and had undergone treatment at his hospital in 2010.
Mane was sentenced to death by a Pune sessions court in December 2013. After the trial court convicted Mane and observed that he was of sound mental health, the sessions judge issued a show cause notice to Dr Burte asking why proceedings should not be initiated against him for providing false evidence that Mane had undergone treatment in 2010. Not satisfied with Dr Burte's reply, the sessions judge asked the registrar, district courts, Pune, to lodge a complaint against him under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Following the complaint, the magistrate concerned asked the police to lodge an FIR, after which the aggrieved doctor approached the HC seeking quashing of the FIR.
While remanding the matter back to the sessions court, the judges observed that the courts should consider the complaint afresh.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}