The Karnataka High Court has refused to quash an FIR against doctors and the management of Chinmaya Mission Hospital in Bengaluru over the alleged severing of a six-month-old baby’s little finger while an intravenous drip was being removed, directing investigators to establish what happened inside the hospital’s emergency department.
The order was passed by a single-judge bench headed by Justice Anant Ramanath Hegde while hearing a criminal petition filed by the hospital’s medical director, Dr U. Sudhir, and members of its management seeking cancellation of the FIR. The court declined to halt the investigation.
According to the allegation recorded in the case, the infant had been admitted to the hospital after falling ill and was placed on a drip. Doctors later advised that the child could be discharged. The allegation is that the baby’s little finger was severed when a nurse removed the drip.
The FIR was registered at the Indiranagar police station under Section 125(b) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The provision has been invoked in connection with the alleged injury, while the investigation is expected to determine the facts and the applicable legal responsibility.
The High Court said the child had been kept in the emergency department for four hours after the incident and that the investigation would need to establish precisely what occurred during that period. The bench also said it was necessary to examine whether medical protocols had been followed.
“An investigation must be conducted objectively,” the court said, according to the report. It directed the investigating officer to seek assistance from subject experts before determining whether the case involved medical negligence and submitting an appropriate report.
The order does not establish that the hospital or its staff committed medical negligence. That question remains subject to investigation and an assessment of the evidence, including the hospital’s procedures, the sequence of events during the drip removal and the treatment provided after the alleged injury.
The case places attention on the chain of responsibility inside a hospital when a procedure involving a vulnerable patient results in a serious injury. The court’s direction specifically requires investigators to examine both what happened in the emergency department and whether the relevant medical protocol was followed, rather than reaching a conclusion solely from the registration of the FIR.
The hospital’s petition sought to end the criminal proceedings at the preliminary stage. By refusing to quash the FIR, the court has allowed the police inquiry to continue. The next formal step is for investigators to conduct the objective inquiry, consult medical experts and submit a report on whether the facts support an allegation of medical negligence.
