The main legal point established in the judgment is the court's emphasis on the need for doctors to write prescriptions in legible handwriting, citing relevant regulations and requesting the government to take appropriate steps.

JUDGMENT :

S.K. PANIGRAHI, J.

1. In view of extraordinary situation arose out of COVID-19 lockdown, the matter is taken up through video conferencing. This is an application for interim bail. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned counsel for the State.

2. The petitioner is an accused in 2(a) CC Case No. 24 of 2019(N) arising out of P.R. Case No. 123 of 2019-20 pending in the court of learned Sessions Judge-cum-Special Judge, Berhampur, Ganjam registered for the offence punishable under Sections 20(b)(ii)(C) of the N.D.P.S. Act.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner’s wife is suffering from some severe gynecological complexities along with cardio-vascular and hematological problems. She requires specialized treatment at M.K.C.G. Medical College and Hospital, Berhampur, Ganjam. As she is living alone, the presence of the petitioner is necessary for attending her health care related need. It is stated that the petitioner is a permanent resident of Murshidabad district of West Bengal and his wife was earlier undergoing treatment there. However, she has shifted to Berhampur recently and she is residing in a rented house at Nehru Nagar, 8th Lane, P.S. Gosani nuagaon of Berhampur, District-Ganjam. This Court also took steps to verify this fact from the concerned I.O. and found it to be true. No family members are there to look after her during her treatment or in case of any imminent surgical intervention at M.K.C.G. Hospital, Berhampur. In addition, she has shifted to Berhampur to visit the petitioner at regular interval at Berhampur jail. The presence of the petitioner to attend during her treatment and tracking her healthcare need is highly essential. The petitioner seeks interim bail in order to take care of his wife’s treatment at M.K.C.G. Hospital, Berhampur.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner has filed detailed medical reports concerning the health status and other clinical details of petitioner’s wife along with a rent agreement dated 7th March, 2020 to prove that his wife is staying at Berhampur. This Court verified those documents. However, while verifying the medical documents as filed by the Petitioner for the perusal of this Court, but the prescription by the doctor is pathetically poor legibility and is far beyond the comprehension of any common man or even for this Court which is dealing with the matter. Such illegible handwriting in medical records has the propensity to have adverse medico-legal implications. However, learned counsel for the petitioner assisted the Court with much difficulty to decipher what was written therein.

5. Considering the submissions and factum of ill health of the petitioner’s wife, it is directed that the petitioner be released on interim bail for a period of one month from the date of his release on interim bail on some stringent terms and conditions as deemed just and proper by the learned Sessions Judge-cum-Special Judge, Berhampur, Ganjam.

6. It is made clear that he shall surrender before the said Court on or before completion of one month with further condition that the petitioner shall not misutilize his liberty in any manner whatsoever.

7. Violation of the aforesaid condition may entail consideration for cancellation of the interim bail granted to the petitioner.

8. Accordingly, the I.A. is disposed of.

9. Before parting with the present application, one issue which this court is constrained to articulate is that considerable time and frustration associated with detective work in so far as medical reports/doctors’ prescriptions are concerned. Such illegible scrawls composed by doctors creates unnecessary nuisance at the end of the patients, pharmacists, Police, prosecutors, judges who are bound to deal with such medical reports. Prescriptions of physicians, OPD slips, post-mortem report, injury report etc. written, perforce, are required to be legible and fully comprehensible. A medical prescription oughtn’t to leave any room for ambiguity or inte