'Officials delaying death report on purpose'

The Times of India:Wednesday,September 21, 2011.

MARGAO: Bailancho Ekvott (BE) members, who had recently come under criticism from the family of late Ravina Rodrigues, defended themselves and hit out at the authorities concerned for not providing her family with a report on her death.

"Our organization has been following this case from July 30-the day of the postmortem of the body-and have assisted and supported the family of the deceased in their struggle for justice. We will continue to do so till the end," said BE president Auda Viegas.

Viegas pointed out that the under public information officer of the state health department had replied to their application under RTI on September 13. The reply stated that, "The concerned file containing the report of the committee (formed to investigate Rodrigues' death) is under submission to the higher authority. Therefore, the required documents as sought under the RTI Act will be furnished, no sooner the said file is received in the department."

Clearing doubts about the formation of the panel, Viegas told mediapersons that she had personally interacted with the panel along with Rodrigues' sister and that she had even learned from reliable sources that the report was ready. Viegas alleged that the authorities were delaying furnishing the report as the report accuses a doctor of medical negligence.