Doctors get bail in Pipli gang-rape case

The Orissa High Court has granted anticipatory bail to two doctors who had been chargesheeted by the crime branch of the police in connection with the alleged gang rape of a Dalit girl in a village near Pipli in coastal Puri district early this year.

 The teenager, Babina Behera had recently died in the government run Sriram Chandra Bhanja(SCB) medical college and hospital in Cuttack after remaining in comatose for more than six months.

 The two doctors - Dhirendranath Maharana and Milan Mitra - moved to the court seeking anticipatory bail to avoid possible arrest by the crime branch. While Maharana is functioning as the superintendent of the SCB medical college hospital, Mitra is attached to Capital Hospital, the biggest government-run health facility in capital Bhubaneswar.

Both the medicos have been charged with negligence in their duties. Several woman and Dalit organisations who had been agitating demanding justice for the victim had pressed for action against the doctors.

 Apart from the doctors, the crime branch has also filed chargesheets against the perpetrators of the crime who have already been arrested. The crime branch probe is being monitored by the high court.

Besides crime branch, a judicial commission appointed by the state government is also probing into the sensitive case separately.

 Pradip Maharathi, the BJD MLA from Pipli, had to resign from the state cabinet this year in connection with the case. The senior legislator had to quit in the face of allegation that he was protecting the perpetrators of the crime.