A "false and incorrect" test report about a sexually transmitted disease led a woman to the verge of divorce.
A "false and incorrect" test report about a sexually transmitted disease given by a leading private pathological laboratory in the national capital led a woman to the verge of divorce.
A wrong report given by Delhi-based Dr Lal PathLabs Pvt Ltd to Poonam Tanwar, saying she had herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection, became the basis for a divorce request filed by her husband Adesh Tanwar, who alleged that she was not a
chaste woman and since the infection was "communicable" and "incurable", she would not be able to conceive.
But after five years of legal battle, a district court here ruled in favour of Poonam, quoting the report of an AIIMS expert which said that report of HSV infection given by Lal PathLabs Pvt Ltd seemed to be "false and incorrect".
"The subsequent reports from the same lab clearly indicate and confirm HSV IgM report was not correct," Sanjay Garg, Additional District Judge said in his judgement quoting the report given by Dr Sarman Singh, a Professor at AIIMS.
Poonam was married to Adesh on February 20, 2003 and got pregnant after a few months. During her pregnancy she was advised a routine test and blood test was then carried out.
In the report, she was wrongly declared to be infected with the HSV.
Meanwhile, Poonam who was having a difficult pregnancy was advised abortion by doctors.
Poonam, who was thrown out of her in-laws' house, said she got the tests repeated again in June that year from the same lab which cleared her of any infection.
"But my in-laws did not listen. My husband Adesh filed a divorce suit same year alleging that infection was incurable and I could not carry forward his progeny," she said.
Poonam approached Delhi Commission for Women the next year which asked Dr Sarman Singh of AIIMS to review the reports of Dr Lal PathLabs Pvt Ltd.
Dr Singh opined that report of HSV seemed incorrect and false. He also said there were several conditions including pregnancy which can give rise to false reports due to appearance of some antibodies in patient's serum. He said that there was no evidence of any STD.
"This limitation has clearly been mentioned by Dr Lal PathLabs in the foot note of the reports. The subsequent reports from the same lab clearly indicate and confirm that HSV IgM report was not correct," Singh said in his report.
"From the report of Dr Sarman Singh who is indisputably an expert on the point, it is manifest that at the relevant time, the respondent (Poonam) was immune to rubella; that she was not infected with HSV and that though she was found CMV positive, the said infection is most common among adults in Indian society," the Court said, while deciding in favour of Poonam.
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