New law mandates two-year jail term for doctors over deaths due to medical negligence

NEW DELHI: Doctors across India will face a jail term of at least two years for cases of deaths of patients due to medical negligence.

As per the amendment to the Bharatiya Nyaya (second) Sanhita Bill, passed in the Lok Sabha, prison term in case of death due to a negligent act of a medical practitioner not amounting to culpable homicide has been reduced to two years.

“Currently, if there is a death due to the negligence of a doctor, it is also treated as culpable homicide. The punishment was also enhanced. I will bring an official amendment now to free the doctors from this,” union home minister Amit Shah had said.

The amendment to the Bharatiya Nyaya (second) Sanhita Bill moved by the home minister adds the words: “…and if such act is done by a registered medical practitioner while performing medical procedure, he shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, and shall also be liable to fine.”

The amended Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita Bill, 2023 (BNSS) does not provide a blanket exemption to doctors in cases of death due to negligence; instead, it prescribes a maximum two-year imprisonment in such cases, slightly lower than the punishment for other cases.

The amended Section 106 (1) of the Sanhita says: “Whoever causes death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, and shall also be liable to fine”.