PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION (PIL)

Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association (BNWLA)
Md. AzimUddin

1. Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Planning Affairs
2. Secretary, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs
3. Inspector General of Police
4. National Technical Advisor National DNA Profiling Laboratory
5. Officer-in-charge, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station
6. Square Hospital Limited
7. Dr.NargisFatema,  Consultant OBSGYNAE
8. Dr.DevjaniSanyal, Square Hospital

A petition was filed against Square Hospital by a deceased baby’s mother who got admitted for childbirth.  Under the supervision of one doctor, victim gave birth to a child, who died within a few minutes of being born but the corpse of the child was not handed over to the relatives. The concerned hospital failed to provide a death and other certificates, in a state of shock, the petitioner buried the baby and further examination of various reports revealed serious discrepancies, to the extent that the name of the deceased baby’s mother was differently recorded in a report, and the hospital refused to supply relevant information. 

The High Court issued a Rule Nisi calling upon the Respondents to show cause as to why the judicial inquiry shall not be undertaken to unearth the truth, why Respondent Nos.2 and 3 should not be directed to conduct a DNA profiling to determine the true identity of the dead child, why the respondents shall not be directed to seize relevant documents and other evidence from the hospital. The Court also asked to show cause as to why the hospital should not be directed to allow the petitioner to have a sample of the child for further DNA testing in Singapore at his own cost and use the same as evidence in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station Case No. 39(7) 2011 under section 468/471/420/39 of the Penal Code and under section 6(1) of the Nari O ShishuNirjatan Daman Act, 2000 (amended in 2003), why their passivity in conducting a judicial inquiry into the alleged incident, orbiting around the demise of a new born child.

Pending hearing, the Court directed the Head of the National Forensic DNA Profiling Laboratory of Dhaka Medical College Hospital to make the DNA Profile available to a specified address directly in 30 days’ time from the date of receipt of this order in a sealed box.

Mr. Justice A.H.M. Shamsuddin Choudhury

Mr. Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore