Dowry Demand: Kerala High Court permits doctor accused of abetting girlfriend's suicide to rejoin PG course

The Kerala High Court recently permitted Dr. EA Ruvais, who stands charged with abetting the suicide of his girlfriend Dr. Shahana by allegedly making dowry demands, to rejoin his post graduate medical course. .Justice A Mohammed Nias CP opined that irreversible damage may be caused to Ruvais if he is prevented from completing his studies.The Court, therefore, passed an interim order directing the medical college to permit him to rejoin his studies."It is trite that even convicts have certain fundamental rights despite being found guilty. Further, there is a presumption of innocence as far as an accused is concerned. Taking into account the merit of the petitioner and the fact that irreversible loss will be caused if he is not allowed to continue his studies, by way of an interim order, I direct the respondents to permit the petitioner to re-join for the course forthwith by staying the operation of Ext.P1 (suspension order) and all the further proceedings including order dated 2.3.2024. Orders in this regard shall be passed within a week from today. The respondents will take such measures to avert any untoward incident in the college on account of the petitioner rejoining the course," the Court directed..Dr. Shahana, a postgraduate surgery student at Government Medical College in Thiruvananthapuram, took her own life in late 2023 allegedly because of her family's inability to fulfill the dowry requests made by Ruvais.Ruvais' family is accused of requesting 150 sovereigns of gold, 15 acres of land and a BMW car from Shahana's family - all demands that Dr. Shahana's family were unable to fulfill.Following the revelation of this incident, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) suspended Ruvais' medical license and he was arrested by the police.He was charged with offences punishable under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act.On December 22, 2023, the High Court granted him bail noting that his continued incarceration was no longer necessary for completing the investigation.However, in view of his arrest, the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College where had been pursuing his MS (Master of Surgery) Orthopaedics degree, had suspended him.This prompted him to move the High Court with the present petition seeking permission to resume his studies. .In February, pursuant to an interim order of the Court, the medical college authorities considered a request submitted to them by Ruvais in this regard and decided to reject the same. However, the Court opined that keeping Ruvais away from his post graduate course pending enquiry or trial, would cause irreparable damage to him if the charges are proven false. Therefore, it directed the college authorities to permit him to rejoin the course immediately and stayed the operation of the order suspending him. Final orders in the matter will be passed next week. .Ruvais was represented by Senior Advocate CC Thomas and advocates MG Karthikeyan and Nireesh Mathew.Government Pleader PG Pramod appeared for the State authorities..[Read Order]