Odishatv Bureau
Puri: A local court on Saturday granted bail to three surrendered doctors, charged with neglecting the dalit rape victim of Pipili, who later died last month. Dr B N Moharana, the Superintendent of SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack, Dr Milan Mitra and Dr Kailash Chandra Sahu of Capital Hospital today appeared before the court of the Judicial Magistrate (First Class), Pipili, and got bail.

Asking the doctors not to influence or intimidate the witnesses in the rape and murder case, the judge Meenakshi Priyadarshani asked the trio to cooperate with the investigating officer of crime branch, probing into the sensational rape and murder case. The doctors had to produce two securities and Rs 20,000 each in order to get the bail, the government counsel said.

The doctors had earlier moved the Odisha High Court seeking anticipatory bail apprehending arrest and were advised to surrender at the lower court to get regular bail. The doctors were charged with having neglected the victim as she was first rushed to the government hospital at Pipili and subsequently shifted to the Capital Hospital and later to the SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack.

The 19-year-old girl was allegedly raped with an attempt to kill her at Arjungada village under Pipili police station area on November 29, 2011. The girl succumbed at the S C B Medical College Hospital in Cuttack on June 21, 2012. While the doctors of the hospital allegedly gave anti-venom injection to the rape victim, the superintendent was accused of discharging her even though she had been in coma.

The state government had already set up a judicial commission to inquire into the entire incident after a nationwide outcry over the dalit rape and murder case. The local MLA of Pipili Pradeep Maharathy had to resign from the Naveen Patnaik cabinet in the face of allegation that the agriculture minister shielded the accused.

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