Bungoma County Court Users Committee wants all fees charged for filling of P3 forms in assault cases waived following a recent court ruling.
This is after members were informed that Bungoma County Level Five hospital had only waived fees for victims of gender based violence but still charges Sh. 1000 to fill the p3 forms for assault victims.
The Law Society of Kenya, Bungoma Chapter Chairman, Elly Murunga said it was wrong for poor members of the public to continue to be charged the exorbitant fee.
He referred members to a High Court ruling in April in which the Resident Judge, Justice Florence Muchemi declared that levying fees for issuing and filling medical examination forms is illegal and unconstitutional.
She declared then that the services must be free countrywide with immediate effect annulling any levies.
The P3 forms are used by the police and public prosecutions to prove physical assault in court.
The nullification followed a petition by the Legal Resources Foundation Trust that had sued the Attorney General, the IG police, and the Health CS and argued that the payments were frustrating justice to victims.
The CUC members argued that most victims of assault and other forms of violence in Bungoma were from poor backgrounds and hence should not be denied justice due to inability to pay any levies.
The committee Chaired by Justice Boaz Olao resolved that a letter be written to the hospital management with a copy of the Embu Court ruling attached stopping any further charging of such levies.
Justice Olao said that there was no policy demanding that victims of sexual and other forms of violence seeking medical treatment pay for filling of P3 forms.
By Roseland Lumwamu
