CHENNAI: The way that Dr L Prakash excitedly and animatedly gave his lecture at a orthopedics conference, made it hard to believe that the doctor had spent 13 years in prison, but what was more surprising was the fact that the audience stood up and applauded the doctor for a full five minutes.
The very same man who the media had dubbed ‘sex doctor’ after he was convicted in a pornography racket, was being applauded for his talk on the Ilizarov orthopedic technique.
Prakash was arrested in December 2001 after investigations revealed that he had shot thousands of pornographic videos of young men and women, some of whom were his patients and released the videos on porn websites in the USA and France.
Prakash’s case was the first to be tried under the IT act, when it came into existence in 2001. He was also booked under several other sections including Indecent Representation of Women Act, IPC for kidnapping, conspiracy and others.
“I stayed in prison for so long only because our justice system is slow but I believed I would be acquitted and I was,” he said to Express. He was acquitted under most sections but was found guilty under the IT act and slapped a fine of more than one lakh rupees.
Prakash claims that he was the cause for his acquittal as he himself had studied law during his time in prison and asked the lawyer to ‘follow his instructions’. Besides law, Prakash says he got a degree in fine arts too and has painting and sculptures to his credit.
The very next day after his release, Prakash claims that he went back to work, “When I was released itself, my former patients and new patients came to receive me. Since then I’ve treated almost 200 patients.”
Prakash didn’t stop working even when he was in prison and is reported to have written hundreds of fiction and non-fiction books, worked on medical papers as well, “ I know Sanskrit so I also read both the Ramayana and Mahabharata and even wrote my own version of it,” he said. Some of the non-fiction books that have been published can be categorised under the pulp fiction genre. But now, Prakash says that he is only focused on orthopedics.
Almost every month he’s invited to a conference in a different part of the country and even hosted his own conference this weekend for which nearly 100 people signed up. “I even get invited for conferences abroad but I’ve not yet been able to get my passport ready yet,” he said.
Police and the prosecution in their accusations said that the doctor would shoot photos and videos through hidden cameras and then tied up with his brother abroad who would upload it abroad on porn websites. Thousands of CD’s titled “surgery procedures” were also allegedly seized from his home.
However, the doctor’s past seems to have caused no effect whatsoever on his reputation at least among a section. Besides the long applause, members of the audience at the orthopedic conference requested him for selfies too. “The medical fraternity welcomed me back with open arms and lots of young orthos too look up to me and want to get my guidance,” he said showing the congratulatory messages in his phone as proof.
“Most of these medical colleges take lakhs of money and the students don’t even know how to hold a knife. So I provide them with free classes and give them hands-on experience as well, “ he says proudly.
While he doesn’t own a hospital, Prakash says he visits several hospitals to conduct surgery, “ I ask patients to first get in touch with me on WhatsApp, only if it is a very complicated surgery then I do it or I refer to them to someone else,” he said.
Prakash says that he is one of the very few people in the country who can do certain kind of orthopedic surgeries and so people from all strata of society approach him, but he makes it a point to tend to those who wouldn’t be able to afford treatment.
His future plans are also to develop medical equipment and procedures that are cheap so more people will benefit.
Prakash’s doings only came to light in 2001, after a man from Pondicherry named Ganesh filed a complaint with the police that he had been forced to have sex with women for a blue film, but he brushes off all the cases, “I was acquitted of rape charges, kidnapping charges and others. Only some porn videos were found on my computer, otherwise I’m not guilty of anything,” he claims.
According to reports, Prakash’s wife and daughter separated from him after the controversy but today, he doesn’t live on his own, “ I have almost 100 animals living with me from different kinds of fish,a dozen dogs and also unusual pets like tarantula, lizards and other reptiles and I also breed a lot of mice. All this and I also have a laboratory that also has 3D printer and other equipment,” the self-proclaimed workaholic said.
“Since I’m a workaholic, even in prison I never stopped working and now that I’m out also I want to do whatever I’ve missed these last 13 years,” he said, who doesn’t even in the slightest seem in any way delusional about his work, “I believe that no trouble lasts forever so I’m just going to carry on with my life.”