Medical negligence

Guidelines for prosecution of a doctor for criminal medical negligence are laid down by the Supreme Court in the case of Jacob Mathew  v.  State of Punjab, (2005) 6 SCC 1 : AIR 2005 SC 3180 : 2005 Cri LJ 3710. Therefore, criminal prosecution for medical negligence can be initiated only in accordance with these guidelines.

Secondly, recently, in the case of Lalita Kumari  v. Govt. of U.P., (2014) 2 SCC 1, a Constitution Bench (5-Judge Bench) of the Supreme Court has held that registration of FIR by police is mandatory if a cognizable offence is disclosed in the complaint filed. However, even in this case, the Supreme Court has created an exception in the case of medical negligence where the police can conduct a preliminary enquiry before registering FIR (see para 120.6 of this judgment in SCC).