The Madras High Court has discharged nephrologist and organ transplant surgeon M Ganesan from an illegal kidney transplant case, ruling that the criminal proceedings against him were initiated in violation of the law and amounted to harassment.
In an order delivered earlier this year, Justice S Thamilselvi observed that the doctor had faced prolonged harassment “with an ulterior motive” and described the case as an abuse of legal process.
The criminal proceedings had been initiated in June 2021 over allegations linked to a kidney transplant that allegedly took place in 2011. Ganesan, who had served as a kidney transplant surgeon and head of the Kidney Transplant Accreditation Committee at Vinayaga Mission Hospital, was accused of arranging a donor through falsified affidavits in exchange for money, allegedly violating provisions of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act (TOHO Act), 1994.
A trial court had earlier rejected Ganesan’s discharge petition, stating that the matter required detailed examination of evidence during trial. Challenging that order, the doctor moved the high court.
Allowing his plea, the high court held that under the TOHO Act, only the designated Appropriate Authority has powers to inquire into suspected cases of unauthorised organ removal and related offences.
The court said police had initiated criminal proceedings directly at the outset without first allowing the Appropriate Authority to examine the complaint or conduct an inquiry as required under the law.
Justice Thamilselvi noted that the doctor had not been given copies of the complaint, summons for inquiry or an opportunity to explain his position before being arrested and remanded.
The court held that these actions violated procedural safeguards and the petitioner’s fundamental right to liberty.
Setting aside the lower court’s findings, the high court discharged Ganesan from all charges in the case pending before the District Munsif-cum-Judicial Magistrate court in Pennagaram, Dharmapuri.
