DCW CHIPS IN TO ENSURE MEDICAL, LEGAL HELP TO GIRL RAPE SURVIVORS
After DCW’S intervention, the Delhi Government has appointed five regional health directors as nodal officers to prepare medical reports of girls who are rape survivors
After intervention by the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), the Delhi Government has appointed five regional health directors as nodal officers to prepare medical reports of girls who are rape survivors.
Further, the nodal officers have been ordered to prepare and send the reports to the Department of Health and Family Welfare before the tenth of every month.
“The Commission had been receiving complaints that the MLC (Medico Legal Case) were not being given to the child rape survivors and also that the directions of the High Court regarding the MLC of child rape survivors were not being followed,” said Swati Maliwal, chairperson, DCW.
After observing the practice, the Commission had written to Madhup Vyas, secretary of Department of Health and Family Welfare on February 17, and a reply in this regard was sought.
The Department, in its reply, had informed the Commission that it has appointed five regional health officers as nodal officers who will ensure that the directions of the High Court will be complied with.
“Directions have been conveyed to all Heads of the Hospitals to ensure compliance of the directions of the High Court. All the five regional directors of health services have been designated as nodal Officers, for the hospitals in their respective areas, to monitor compliance and submit reports on a monthly basis,” read the reply notice by Madhup Vyas to DCW.
Several instructions determined by the Court have been made compulsory to be followed while preparing the report.
The Court instructed that the MLC of the girl rape survivor shall be conducted by a lady doctor. It also directed that the report prepared and signed by the doctor conducting the examination and a copy of the report should be provided to the guardian of the rape survivor. Further, the Court, to provide a little ease to the survivor, ordered that a psychiatrist’s help be made available to the child victim before the medical examination at the hospital.
The Court also asked that if the result of the examination is delayed, the same will have to be mentioned clearly in the medi- cal report. Moreover, the parents or guardian or any other person whom the victim fully trusts will be allowed to be present during the medical examination.
The Court ordered that the nearest police station to the hospital, where the child victim is brought, should be immediately informed and wherever necessary medical treatment should be provided to the child rape victim.
For the doctors, the Court has also ordered that those doctors who prepare the MLC’S or conduct post-mortem examination undergo orientation to ensure that the medical report, as well as the post-mortem reports, stand judicial scrutiny in the Courts.
Meanwhile, after DCW’S letter to the Department, orders have been passed which state that all hospitals will prepare the MLC according to the parameters determined by the High Court.