Issue guidelines on duties, responsibilities of govt. doctors acting as witnesses: HC

Matter guidelines on duties, responsibilities of govt. Doctors acting as witnesses: HC Published – August 19, 2026 08: 27 pm IST – MADURAI.

Key points

• Therefore, the medical professionals appearing before courts as expert witnesses must exercise a high degree of care while giving evidence.
• Medical professionals must recognise that their professional responsibilities did not end with treating patients or performing medical procedures.
• Such records might be generated in a typed or computer-generated format for straightforward comprehension by investigating agencies, prosecutors, defence counsel and courts.
• The efficacy of the justice delivery system depended, to a considerable extent, upon the credibility of expert evidence.
• It remarked the instructions should include the ethical standards anticipated of every expert witness.

For context, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Health Secretary and the Director of Medical Education and Research to matter a circular/ guidelines comprehensively dealing with duties and responsibilities of administration medical professionals while acting as expert witnesses before courts.

Justice B. Pugalendhi remarked an expert witness occupied a position of trust. The privilege of assisting the court carried with it a corresponding responsibility to provide objective, accurate and consistent testimony. Even an inadvertent lapse by the medical expert while testifying created confusion, prolonged judicial proceedings and affected the rights of either the victim or the accused.

Therefore, the medical professionals appearing before courts as expert witnesses must exercise a high degree of care while giving evidence. Equally significant was the duty to carefully read and verify the deposition before affixing their signature, the court stated.

Medical professionals must recognise that their professional responsibilities did not end with treating patients or performing medical procedures. The duty to assist the court was an integral part of their professional obligations. Such assistance was not a matter of discretion or favour, but a statutory and professional duty, it remarked.

Notably, the court directed that the comprehensive circular/guidelines be issued to all administration medical colleges, administration hospitals, district headquarters hospitals, primary health centres and other administration health care institutions.

In practice, the necessity of ensuring that Accident Registers, Wound Certificates, Medico-Legal Reports and all other medico-legal records accurately recorded the clinical findings in a legible and unambiguous manner, and professional opinion formed at the time of examination.

There was a necessity to prepare revised proforma for Medico-Legal Examination of Survivors/ Victims of Sexual Violence, issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in cases involving sexual violence, including POCSO Act cases.

In practice, the medical professionals should familiarise themselves with relevant medical records before entering witness box and depose in accordance with those records and their professional opinion.

Meanwhile, the court stressed the need to understand every question during examination and cross-examination; wherever any ambiguity existed to seek clarification before answering; to carefully read and verify the deposition before signing it; and to immediately bring to the notice of the court any omission or inadvertent error noticed therein.

Notably, the efficacy of the justice delivery system depended, to a considerable extent, upon the credibility of expert evidence. It was, therefore, imperative that every medical professional entrusted with this responsibility discharged it with the highest standards of competence, objectivity and professional integrity, the court remarked.

Taken together, the developments around issue guidelines on duties, responsibilities of govt. Doctors acting as witnesses: HC point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.