A DOCTOR who fled to India after sexually assaulting a teenage patient has been jailed — and will be extradited to serve his punishment.

Naveen Shivan had not turned up for his trial and was absent yesterday as a judge sentenced him to two years in prison.

Shivan’s defence team said the 37-year-old ear, nose and throat doctor, had not returned because he was a ‘broken man’ suffering from ill health.

But Judge Edward Slinger said Shivan had conducted a ‘deliberate sexual assault on a vulnerable woman’ for which it was his duty to issue an immediate custodial sentence.

Extradition proceedings will now be launched by the police and Crown Prosecution Service.

Shivan was working on the ENT unit of the former Blackburn Royal Infirmary in August 2005 when he sexually assaulted the 16-year-old girl.

The trial was told the girl was admitted with acute tonsillitis but said she was woken up in the small hours to find the medic touching her tummy before carrying out the sexual assault.

Nurses were alerted when the distressed teen, rang her bedside alarm.

Shivan was said to have carried out the attack under the guise of a medical examination.

In police interview Shivan, formerly of Infirmary close Blackburn, claimed he has been checking the patient for signs of glandular fever.

But prosecutor Jane Dagnall said Shivan, who had arrived to the UK in 2001, had failed to follow procedures for such a check by not asking the victim for consent and by not having female staff present.

The father-of-two pleaded not guilty to the offence but returned to India before his trial in January 2007.

The first jury failed to come to a decision and was discharged, but was convicted in his absence in November last year following a re-trial.

Passing the two-year sentence Judge Slinger said: “ This was not in any way a medical examination, that was not the purpose of his visit.

“As a deliberate sexual assault on a young woman, she was a vunerable woman patient in hospital, he was a doctor in a position of trust. It is my public duty to request an immediate custodial sentence.”

Speaking after the sentencing Detective Sergeant Paul Ryan, Blackburn CID, said: “This has been a protracted case and no doubt it has been a very difficult time for the victim and her family. I am satisfied with the sentance and will be progressing the necessary actions to achieve extradition.”

Shivan’s defence counsel John Woodward told Preston Crown Court that Shivan had not returned throughout the legal process because of his ill health.

Mr Woodward said: “He is suffering from depression and anxiety, culminating in him being admitted to an Indian College hospital .

“It is clear this conviction has had a devastating effect on him, his wife and his young family.”

He said Shivan had contemplated suicide adding: “He is a broken man.”

Once Shivan returns to the UK he will also be place on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

He had been on temporary medical license here, after qualifying in India.

His conviction will now stop him from being granted a license by the General Medical Council and he is also likely to be excluded from practicing in India.