Nova Scotia court dismisses sexual assault charge against former doctor Sanjeev Sirpal
A Nova Scotia court dismissed a sexual assault charge against former doctor Sanjeev Sirpal after the Crown declined to call evidence, citing no reasonable prospect of conviction. Sirpal still faces sexual assault charges in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick with trials scheduled for late 2026 and April 2027.
A Nova Scotia court has dismissed a sexual assault charge against former doctor Sanjeev Sirpal after the Crown determined there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.
The Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service stated that the Crown told Amherst provincial court it would not be calling any evidence against Sirpal. His lawyer, Stanley MacDonald, confirmed the case was dismissed because the Crown did not provide any evidence against his client.
The Nova Scotia RCMP charged Sirpal with sexual assault in August 2025 related to allegations at the Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre near Amherst from January 2025. The dismissal comes more than a year after those charges were laid.
Sirpal was a member of the Atlantic Registry, which allowed him to practice medicine in all four Atlantic provinces when the alleged offences occurred. He was removed from the registry in March 2025, and the New Brunswick physicians’ college suspended his medical licence in August 2025. Prior to these proceedings, the Quebec college of physicians revoked Sirpal’s permit in 2022 after concluding he provided fraudulent information when applying. He appealed the decision but lost.
This is not the first time a charge against Sirpal has been dropped. The Crown previously withdrew another sexual assault charge against him in Amherst provincial court in January. In September 2025, the Crown in New Brunswick also dropped a sexual assault charge against Sirpal in Edmundston Provincial Court, citing no reasonable likelihood of conviction.
Despite the dismissal, Sirpal still faces outstanding charges. He faces another sexual assault charge in Nova Scotia related to an alleged incident on Jan. 8, 2025, as well as an additional sexual assault charge in New Brunswick. A trial for the remaining Nova Scotia charge is scheduled for November 2026 in Amherst Supreme Court. A second trial for the New Brunswick charge is set for April 2027 in Moncton Provincial Court.