KISS murder: OSCPCR slams police leniency towards KIMS hospital

Bhubaneswar: The commissionerate police investigating the recent murder of a minor student at KISS school, Bhubaneswar, came under sharp criticism on Thursday from the state child rights commission for allegedly showing undue leniency to KIMS hospital, where the boy was declared dead earlier this week.

Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (OSCPCR) chairperson Babita Patra said a notice would be issued to the police, questioning why no action was taken against KIMS doctors. “The doctors neither conducted a mandatory postmortem nor informed the police when the boy died under suspicious circumstances on December 12. We recommend stringent action against the hospital authorities,” Patra said.


She flagged serious lapses in the hospital’s handling of the case. Despite visible injury marks on the victim’s neck, doctors released the body to the family on December 12, attributing the death to cardiac arrest, without notifying the police. The controversy escalated after a postmortem at a govt hospital in Keonjhar on December 13 confirmed that the boy was strangled. Police on Wednesday detained three hostel mates of the deceased and arrested eight KISS staff members on charges of murder, suppression of facts, and destruction of evidence.

“While the police have already arrested eight KISS authorities for trying to paint the murder as a natural death, the delay in taking action against the hospital is questionable. It looks strange that the Infocity police, whose station is located a stone’s throw from the KISS campus, could not get a whiff of the murder,” she said. Patra suspected that KIMS authorities may have colluded with KISS officials to cover up the crime. “Since both institutions belong to the same group, their connivance cannot be ruled out,” she said.

While KISS and KIMS declined to comment, police commissioner S Dev Datta Singh said the probe is moving on the right track. “Our investigation is ongoing. Whoever is found guilty will not be spared,” Singh told TOI.

Police sources said that the boy’s treatment records have been forwarded to a medical board for scrutiny. “The board will examine whether KIMS doctors followed prescribed treatment and reporting protocols,” an official said.

The breach of medical and legal protocol has sparked outrage among legal experts and child rights activists. “The hospital administration should be held accountable,” said activist Sujata Priyadarshini.