Junior doctor Asfakulla Naiya, who has been accused of falsely claiming to be an ENT surgeon, moved Calcutta High Court on Monday challenging a summons by Bidhannagar police in connection with their investigation.

Justice Tirthankar Ghosh of Calcutta High Court admitted Naiya’s plea. The
case will likely be heard later this week. A formal date for hearing the plea has not
been fixed though.

Naiya moved the high court on a day he was supposed to turn up at Electronic Complex police station.

“I won’t comment about the case lodged with the police station. The law will take its course. But I’m aware of my rights and have moved the court challenging the summons,” Naiya said on Monday.

Bidhannagar police said a case was drawn up after they received a complaint against him alleging that the junior doctor of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital had used an ENT degree that he was still pursuing while practising at a private clinic in Hooghly.

The case was drawn up based on the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita involving criminal breach of trust (316) and cheating by impersonation.

On January 17, the investigating officer sent the summons directing Naiya to appear before him on Monday morning. Naiya had earlier said he would turn up. But he did not.

The West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Association had first pointed out that Naiya mentioned “MS (master of surgery)” as his qualification on a banner of a healthcare service provider in Hooghly.

In December, the association even complained to the state’s chief secretary about Naiya’s misrepresentation of his degree.

The police complaint against Naiya prompted the West Bengal Medical Council to issue a showcause notice against him on January 16 for allegedly practising as an ENT specialist at the private clinic in Hooghly even though he was yet to receive the degree.

The showcause letter said Naiya merely had an MBBS degree.

Since he was undergoing postgraduation in ENT, the junior doctor could not claim to be a practising ENT surgeon, the letter said. The same day, a team of around 30 police personnel searched Naiya’s house in Kakdwip in South 24-Parganas.

Naiya said the cops could easily have met him at RG Kar hospital. Instead, the team went to his house, almost 200km away, he said.

A section of junior doctors has alleged that he was being targeted for being a “leader of the street protests” following the rape and murder at RG Kar on August 9.