Surgery boy granted conditional bail

Tiruchirappalli (TN), July 4: The teenaged boy, who allegedly performed a caesarean section at a hospital run by his doctor-parents at Manapparai, has been granted conditional bail.

Earlier,16-year-old Dhileepan Raj surrendered before the Juvenile Justice Board (ed correct).

After making enquiries, Juvenile Justice Board Chairperson D Sujatha, also judicial magistrate (VI), ordered that the boy be remanded till July 18.

At this juncture, S Martin,counsel for Dhileepan, argued that taking into account his age,the boy can be released on bail under section 12 of the Juvenile Justice (care and protection of children) Act 2000.

The Chairperson said the bail could be granted on condition that the boy be produced before the Board as and when demanded and that certificates should be produced about the identity of the boy's guardian.

Since the boy's parents were lodged in Central prison, Tiruchi, the advocate pleaded that the boy's maternal grandmother Kamala of Manapparai would be the guardian.

After the requisite papers were furnished, the bail was granted.

The boy had filed an anticipatory bail plea before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court. The court had disposed of the boy's anticipatory bail plea a few days ago with a direction to police to produce him before the Juvenile Justice Board which will decide the question of bail. His doctor-parents, K Murugesan and Gandhimathi, were arrested on June 25 and police had formed teams to trace Dhileepan Raj who had allegedly performed the surgery on March 25.

A sessions court near here had rejected the bail plea of the doctor-couple yesterday.

After the matter came to light, police registered a case against the doctors and their son under sections 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 336 (act endangering life of others), 338 (causing grievious hurt by act endangering life) and 419 (cheating) of the IPC.

The incident, which created a flutter, came to light at a meeting of Manapparai unit of the Indian Medical Association in May where Murugesan, a surgeon and Gandhimathi, a gynaecologist, is said to have screened the video of their son performing the surgery. Murugesan is now claiming he performed the surgery while his son watched.

The Tamil Nadu branch of Indian Medical Association had adopted a resolution at their meeting recently seeking disciplinary action against Murugesan.