HC completes hearing on arrested Vizag doctor's release plea

The Orissa High Court today completed hearing on a habeas corpus writ petition filed by an arrested Vishakhapatnam-based doctor's wife.
Hearing the arguments from the petitioner's counsel and state government, the division bench of justices Indrajit Mohanti and Sangam Kumar Sahoo reserved the judgement.
Arrested by Cuttack city police in connection with an illegal kidney transplantation involving a Cuttack woman, N Prabhakar Babu, director of a private hospital, is now under judicial custody here since July 3.
Babu was taken under custody by the Cuttack police on June 17 this year.
His wife had sought the high court's intervention for immediate release of her ailing husband.

Arguing the case, her counsel Jayant Das had earlier told the court that provisions of Transplantation of Human Organs Act-1994 under which the doctor has been arrested, are not applicable in this case.
In its reply, state advocate general Ashok Mohanty on the day admitting that the state police had no authority to arrest the doctor under the provisions of Transplantation of Human Organs Act, stated that the accused was arrested under section 467, 471, 324 and 34 of IPC for he allegedly carried out the organ transplantation without following the guidelines issued in this context by the Supreme Court.

After the state government's stand was made clear in the court, the petitioner counsel gave oral reply and was asked by the division bench to submit the written note of his argument by tomorrow.