Format to make med report for sexual offence in Bengal more concise

KOLKATA: Medical reports, often considered as the most crucial scientific evidence in cases of rape and sexual offences, will be more concise and to the point in West Bengal from now onwards.

The state health department has already received a draft of this new format, which proposes the medical report to be more concise that it can be fit in just two pages as against the existing detailed format of at least 20 pages which often increases to 30 pages.

A state health department said that often preparing such detailed medical reports take a long time which is then handed over to the investigating officer in the case of rape or sexual offence thus delaying the entire investigation process.

"Since the doctors concerned are engaged in other medical assignments besides preparing the medical report, the completion of the same in the current detailed format becomes time- consuming. But the new format, which is more concise and to the point, will on one hand release the burden on the doctors and on the other hand will be helpful for the investigating officers in accelerating the pace of investigation in such cases," a state health department official said.

It is learnt that the proposal of making the medical report in case of rape and sexual offences more concise and to the point was first mooted at a seminar on state- level stakeholder's consultation on status of implementation of the POCSO Act 2012 in November last year. There it was decided that a draft of this new concise format will be submitted to the state health department for its clearance. Finally, the draft has been submitted this month.

"This concise format will also reduce the possibilities of any error sneaking in there. This is extremely important since any error in the medical report can totally take the investigation process in the wrong direction," the state health department official said.