Legal provisions regarding medical examination of accused at the request of the police officer under section 53 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
Section 53 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that when a person is arrested on a charge of committing an offence of such a nature and alleged to have been committed under such circumstances that there are reasonable grounds for believing that an examination of his person will afford evidence as to the commission of an offence, it shall be lawful for a registered medical practitioner, acting at the request of a police officer not below the rank of a sub-inspector, and for any person acting in good faith in his aid and under his direction, to make such an examination of the person arrested as is reasonably necessary in order to ascertain the facts which may afford such evidence, and to use such force as is reasonably necessary for that purpose. Whenever the person of a female is to be examined under this section, the examination shall be made only by, or under the supervision of, a female registered medical practitioner.
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Explanation:
In this section and in Section 53-A and 54,—
(a) “Examination” shall include the examination of blood, blood stains, semen, swabs in case of sexual offences, sputum and sweat, hair samples and finger nail clippings by the use of modern and scientific techniques including DNA profiling and such other tests which the registered medical practitioner thinks necessary in a particular case;
(b) “Registered medical practitioner” means a medical practitioner who possesses any medical qualification as defined in clause (h) of Section 2 of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 (102 of 1956) and whose name has been entered in a State Medical Register.
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In Anil Lohande v. State of Maharashtra, the Court has held that the medical examination of the accused is not violative of Article 20(3) of the Constitution as it would not amount to compelling arrested person ‘to be a witness’ against himself. The examination may include testing of blood, sputum, semen, urine, etc. along with the visible parts of the body.
Such examination though leads for discomfort, pain or hurt is justifiable if the process of examination is reasonable. It is also held that even in spite of the fact that the accused is released on bail, he is still a person arrested on a charge of committing an offence and, therefore, his medical examination can be carried out under Section 53 of the Code.
The Court further held that though the examination is to be done at the instance of a police officer not below the rank of a sub-inspector, that does not mean that other superior police officers or the court concerned are debarred from exercising the power under Section 53 if such examination becomes necessary for doing justice in a criminal case.
Examination of person accused of rape by medical practitioner:
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Section 53-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides:
(1) When a person is arrested on a charge of committing an offence of rape or an attempt to commit rape and there are reasonable grounds for believing that an examination of his person will afford evidence as to the commission of such offence, it shall be lawful for a registered medical practitioner employed in a hospital run by the Government or by a local authority and in the absence of such a practitioner within the radius of sixteen kilometres from the place where the offence has been committed by any other registered medical practitioner, acting at the request of a police officer not below the rank of a sub-inspector and for any person acting in good faith in his aid and under his direction, to make such an examination of the arrested person and to use such force as is reasonably necessary for that purpose.
(2) The registered medical practitioner conducting such examination shall, without delay, examine such person and prepare a report of his examination giving the following particulars, namely:
(i) The name and address of the accused and of the person by whom he was brought;
(ii) The age of the accused;
(iii) Marks of injury, if any, on the person of the accused;
(iv) The description of material taken from the person of the accused for DNA profiling; and
(v) Other material particulars in reasonable detail.
(3) The report shall state precisely the reasons for each conclusion arrived at.
(4) The exact time of commencement and completion of the examination shall also be noted in the report.
(5) The registered medical practitioner shall, without delay, forward the report of the investigating officer, who shall forward it to the Magistrate referred to in Section 173 as part of the documents referred to in clause (a) of sub-section (5) of that section.