In a landmark directive, the Orrisa High Court has asked the state chief secretary to issue a circular asking all government and private doctors to write the prescriptions and postmortem reports in legible handwriting, preferably in capital letters or typing them out.

The directive was issued by the High Court after Justice S. K. Panigrahi found it difficult to provide a verdict on a case as the postmortem report attached to the petition was not legible and incomprehensible. The directive further stated that making such amendments will ensure that the judicial system will not suffer from unnecessary fatigue in reading the medicolegal documents.

The backdrop behind the directive was attributed to a case where a petitioner, Rasananda Bhoi of Hindol in Dhenkanal district, had approached the court to consider his plea for directing the government to provide ex-gratia on account of the demise of his elder son, Souvagya Ranjan Bhoi, due to a snake bite.

The hearing required the postmortem report of the deceased person as evidence, but since the document was incomprehensible, Justice Panigrahi had given an earlier order summoning the concerned doctor to read the document. Subsequently, the doctor who had written the report appeared before the court via virtual mode, read the document, and provided his opinion too. Thereafter, the court was able to understand that it was a snake bite case and adjudicated over it.

Justice Panigrahi, in his order, observed that the judicial system finds it very difficult to read and comprehend the medicolegal reports due to the casual approach of several doctors in writing the postmortem reports. Eventually, the court is unable to come to a definite conclusion. He further added that it has become a fashion among the doctors of the state to write such zigzag handwriting, which neither a normal person nor a judicial officer can read.

A similar order was passed by the Orrisa High Court in 2020, when a judge found it difficult to understand the prescription submitted by the petitioner, a prisoner who had approached the court seeking interim bail for a month to take care of his ailing wife. The judge had stated in his order that a medical prescription should not leave any room for uncertainty or interpretation.

(Inputs from various sources)

(Rehash/Dr. Sushmita Ganguli)