(G) Penal Code (1860), S.304-A - Criminal medical negligence - As distinguished from negligence in civil law.
The jurisprudential concept of negligence differs in civil and criminal law. What may be negligence in civil law may not necessarily be negligence in criminal law. For negligence to amount to an offence the element of mens rea must be shown to exist. For an act to amount to criminal negligence, the degree of negligence should be of much high degree. A negligence which is not of such a high degree may provide a ground for action in civil law but cannot form the basis for prosecution. To prosecute a medical professional for negligence under criminal law it must be shown that the accused did something or failed to do something which in the given facts and circumstances no medical professional in his ordinary senses and prudence would have done or failed to do.
MALAY KUMAR GANGULY VS. DR. SUKUMAR MUKHERJEE & ORS.
2009-ALL SCR-2039 (Para 210)
