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SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
PANKAJ MITHAL, PRASANNA B. VARALE, JJ.
Supriya Kumari M.C. – appellant
VERSUS
State of Kerala & Ors. – Respondents
Criminal Appeal No. 2836 of 2026 (@ Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 124 of 2025)
Decided On : 25-05-2026
(A) Indian Penal Code, 1860 – Section 304A [Section 106 of BNS] – Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 – Section 482 [Section 528 of BNSS] – Medical negligence – Death of patient – Prescribed medicine was correct and necessary analgesic for the situation – Any mishap occurred purely in mechanical execution by Nurse allegedly failing to inject it properly into epidural space which was entirely beyond physical control of off-duty appellant – Even if it is assumed that appellant answered SOS call from home and advised a painkiller, relying on on-duty hospital staff to properly execute standard post-operative pain management cannot be deemed factually negligent – Most potent legal defence in favour of appellant is her complete exoneration by Consumer Courts – Appellant had not given any instructions to Nurse to administer injection – Once accused is exonerated on merits in civil proceedings, allowing criminal prosecution to continue on identical allegations constitutes gross abuse of process of law. (Paras 19, 20, 21 and 23)
(B) Indian Penal Code, 1860 – Section 304A [Section 106 of BNS] – Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 – Section 482 [Section 528 of BNSS] – Medical negligence – Death of patient – For criminal charge under Section 304-A of IPC to survive, prosecution must prove rash and negligent act – Criminal medical negligence requires significantly higher threshold than civil torts – Act must be of such nature that no Medical Professional in his ordinary senses and prudence would have done or failed to do – Legally, an Anaesthetist whose duty hours have concluded cannot be held criminally liable for a subsequent procedural error committed by a staff nurse – Failure of nurse to accurately locate epidural space might represent a deficiency in service (civil liability), but it fundamentally lacks gross culpability or mens rea required to invoke Section 304-A IPC – Criminal liability under Section 304-A IPC necessitates direct, proximate nexus between negligent act and death – Legally, appellant's actions were far too remote from ultimate cause of death – Fastening criminal liability on an off-duty Anaesthetist for an underlying, undisclosed cardiac condition stretches legal doctrine of proximate cause beyond permissible limits – Criminal case quashed and appellant discharged from offences alleged against her. (Paras 24, 25, 28 and 29)
Facts of the case:
Appellant's application filed under Section 482 of Code of Criminal Procedure to quash orders dated 09.06.2011 in C.M.P. No. 2492 of 2009 in C.C. No. 501 of 2008 passed by Court of Judicial Magistrate, as confirmed in order dated 11.07.2018 passed in Crl. R.P. No 17 of 2011 by Court of Additional District & Sessions Judge-II, Thalassery was rejected by High Court.
Findings of Court:
Prosecution against appellant by way of criminal case in C.C. No. 501/2008 pending before Judicial Magistrate First Class-I, Kannur stands quashed and appellant is discharged from offences alleged against her.
Result : Appeal allowed.
JUDGMENT
PRASANNA B. VARALE, J.
1. Leave granted.
2. The present appeal has been preferred by the appellant challenging the order dated 16.10.2024 passed by the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam in CRL. MC No. 6415 of 2018. The appellant's application filed under Section 482 of Code of Criminal Procedure (hereinafter referred to as ‘CrPC’) to quash orders dated 09.06.2011 in C.M.P. No. 2492 of 2009 in C.C. No. 501 of 2008 passed by the Court of the Judicial Magistrate of the First Class-I, Kannur as confirmed in order dated 11.07.2018 passed in Crl. R.P. No 17 of 2011 by the Court of Additional District & Sessions Judge-II, Thalassery was rejected by the High Court.
FACTUAL MATRIX
3. Briefly stated, the prosecution’s case is that the patient, K.P. Muralidhar, was admitted at the Dhanalakshmi Hospital, Kannur on 28.05.2002 and piles surgery was scheduled on 29.05.2002. The appellant herein is a doctor who was working as a senior anaesthetist at the said hospital. On 29.05.2002 the surgery was conducted around 9:30 a.m. and the patient was shifted to the post-operative care ward in the evening wherein his health started deteriorating after 8 p.m. and eventually he collapsed on 30.05.2002 at around 4 a.m. Post-mortem conducted revealed that the deceased’s left coronary had a blockage of 80% and the cause of death was identified to be ‘death due to acute coronary insufficiency’. The prosecution alleges that the death was caused due to the negligence of the appellant, who was on call and was expected to administer anesthesia personally to the patient post-surgery, instead the appellant instructed the same to the attending nurse Rosamma Varghese (accused no. 3). Nurse Rosamma who following her instructions administered the analgesic ‘sensorcaine’ a few hours after which the patient lost consciousness and collapsed.
4. Subsequent to the death, First Information Report (hereinafter referred to as ‘FIR’) bearing No. 432/2002 was lodged on 30.05.2002 at the Kannur Town Police Station against Dr. Mujeeb Rahiman (surgeon- accused no. 1) under Section 304-A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as ‘IPC’) by the brother of the deceased. No allegations were made against the appellant in this FIR.
5. On 15.04.2004, first chargesheet was filed under Section 304-A and Section 34 IPC against accused no. 1, the appellant (accused No. 2) and the nurse (accused No. 3). Being aggrieved, the accused filed Crl. M.C. No. 1813/2005. The High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam quashed charge-sheet against all accused with liberty to the investigating agency to move for further investigation seeking leave of the Magistrate concerned to conduct and complete further investigation. Therefore, an expert panel of four members was constituted which in its final report dated 10.07.2008 unanimously opined that the death occurred due to gross negligence on the part of the hospital staff and that the same could have been prevented if analgesia was ensured by proper introduction of the drug by qualified persons. Subsequently, another charge-sheet dated 09.09.2008 was thus filed against accused no. 1 to accused no. 3 under Sections 304-A and 34 of the IPC. Cognizance was taken and the case was registered as C.C. No. 501/2008 on the files of Ld. JMFC, Kannur.
6. Thereafter, a second quashing petition Crl. M.C. No. 1603/2009 was preferred against the second charge-sheet which was dismissed by the Hon’ble High Court vide order dated 22.05.2009 giving liberty to the appellant to seek for discharge as provided under Section 239 of CrPC. Following which, CMP 2492/2009 in CC 501/2008 was filed by the appellant before the Ld. JMFC, Kannur which was dismissed vide order dated 09.06.2011. This order dated 09.06.2011 was challenged by the appellant in Crl. Rev. Petition No. 17/2011 which was dismissed by the Sessions Court vide order dated 11.07.2018. Aggrieved by the Sessions Court order, the appellant preferred Crl. M.C. No. 6415/2018 under Section 482 CrPC before the Hi
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Criminal proceedings against doctor quashed absent gross negligence proof and where inquiry report confirms no involvement in treatment; high threshold per established guidelines required for medical....
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