For nearly seven years, Dr. Alok Kumar has been fighting an exhausting legal battle to seek justice for his son,Baby Aayansh— a fight that began in the delivery room of Nulife Hospital in 2018 and continues to this day in courtrooms, commissions, and regulatory bodies.
His son was born at Nulife Hospital, a private facility in northwest Delhi, after what was supposed to be a normal delivery. Within minutes of birth, the newborn was found struggling for life — deprived of oxygen, unable to cry, and later diagnosed with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, a severe brain injury caused by oxygen deprivation during delivery.
“The pregnancy was absolutely normal. The ultrasound reports showed everything was fine. Yet, my child was born critically ill,” says Dr. Kumar, his voice steady but resolute.
Over time, when the family examined hospital records, they found glaring inconsistencies — the expected date of delivery (EDD) marked by the Nulife Hospital obstetrician was nearly a month earlier than the EDD shown in multiple ultrasound reports. Dr. Kumar alleges that this “miscalculation” led to premature induction of labour, triggering achain of eventsthat ultimately cost his child his life.
“This was not fate,” he toldThe Probe. “This was preventable. The signs were ignored, and my child is a victim ofmedical negligence— and he paid the price with his life.”
Dr. Kumar says his struggle has not been against one doctor alone, but against a system that shields negligence. “The Delhi Medical Council had also stated that there was indeed negligence and had ordered for the cancellation of licence of the concerned doctor, Dr. Shakuntala Kumar, for 90 days. Despite all this, the police didn’t register an FIR. Then I moved the Rohini court,” he recalls.
It took nearly four years for the first meaningful action. “In 2022, the court ordered for the registration of an FIR and then finally the police registered an FIR. Even there, the police diluted the FIR and registered the case under very light sections,” he said.
Dr. Kumar alleges that the investigation itself was flawed from the start. “When the police started their investigation, the investigating officer seemed like he was not interested in finding out the truth. In the closure report, he even wrote that he had interrogated me and my wife when, in reality, he had never met my wife,” he said.
In September 2023, the police filed a closure report stating there was no negligence — a claim Dr. Kumar calls “shocking” given the evidence. “There were manipulations, contradictions, everything on record. They ignored the DMC order and the AIIMS observations. In October 2023, I filed a protest petition. Now, finally, after two years, theRohini court has pronounced its verdict.”
The court’s order on 6 October 2025 summoned one of the doctors, while noting that no prima facie case was found against three others. For Dr. Kumar, it is a small but significant victory.
Source: The Probe: Investigative Journalism & In-Depth News Analysis
