An American Child Murdered by the Indian System

I am an American. I am a Proud father. However, I write this letter with lots of grief and sorrow regarding the murder of my 2 and half year old son on January 22nd, 2006 in an Indian Hospital.

My son had an appointment on January 22nd. 2006 @ 7.00 am at Nijjar Hospital, located in the city of Batala, district Gurdaspur, Punjab. He was to see Dr. Lakhwinder Singh, ENT Specialist for removal of his ear tubes - a very simple and normal procedure.

My son was accompanied with his maternal grandparents to see Dr. Lakhwinder Singh. After a regular checkup of my son, Dr. Lakhwinder Singh, recommended my son to Dr. Harpal Singh, an Anesthesia Specialist. As per his instructions, my son was taken to see Dr. Gurpal Singh. Upon arrival, my son was taken to a separate room where Dr. Harpal examined him. After checkup, he left the room without any further information.

Without any direction, the nurse proceeded to inject my son in the buttocks while the grandparents were holding my son. After injecting, the nurse left the room and there was no monitoring equipment attached to my son. After a brief moment of crying the grandmother held the son to calm him with his pain. After a few minutes, he stopped crying and fell asleep. His grandmother put him on the bed and felt that his hands and feet were getting cold. The grandparents got concerned and immediately asked for the doctor, to which they were told that the doctor is in the operation theater and won't be available for a while.

There was a lapse of about few minutes after this and the grandparents saw the lips of my son turning blue. They rushed immediately to get some attention and help for my son, but in vain. They were repeatedly told that the doctor is in the operation theater and cannot come nor could any nurse. At this moment my son was fighting for his life and was totally unconscious. By now another half an hour passed and the only people with my son were the grandparents. On repeated request by the grandparents nobody even bothered to look or attend to my son.

Finally, some hospital staff people appeared in the room and without even checking up on my son, took him to an operation theater. After 2-3 minutes, the grandparents were called into the operation theater and were informed that my son is dead. The doctors asked the grieving grandparents to immediately take the body of their grandson and leave the hospital in order to avoid any legal action on them. Grandparents, torn in half upon hearing what they heard, became more shocking on the manner and approach of the hospital. They refused to go anywhere till the police came.

The police was called and they recovered 2 broken injections including Pentazocine and a FIR was filed under section 304IPC (Indian Penal Code). Filing an FIR also took an effort as the police wouldn't file one. However, with the support of public and a strong procession, they finally did. The police were reluctant to file anything, as the owner of the hospital is a political activists and did not want any part of this incident on the record for political reasons.

The doctor and nurse were taken into custody briefly, but due to political pressure on the local authorities the section was changed to 304A IPC, and both the doctor and the nurse were released immediately. All the records in the hospital were immediately changed to prove that the hospital is innocent. Infact, now, the authorities have gone as far as changing the whole autopsy report of my son and putting pressure on my family to withdraw the case from police or face their harassment attitude and further legal action on us.

As a citizen of United States of America, I am requesting a fully independent investigation into this matter and asking the American government a fair treatment of its citizen. My son didn't die, he was murdered, by unqualified doctors, nurses and hospital staff. Had they treated my son with proper procedure, my son would have been alive.

I beg each one of you to help sign this petition and on the basis of humanity, support me in bringing justice for my son. I will not give up and fight to make sure that my son didn't die without reason. I want to make sure that this pain and sorrow is never experienced by another parent in India.

In lots of pain, a father who has lost his son forever.