An Indian doctor convicted of molesting a teenage patient remains in an immigration detention centre and could be deported after losing a court battle to have his visa reinstated.
Perth-based doctor Suhail Ahmad Khan Durani was jailed for more than 18 months for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman while examining her at Royal Perth Hospital's emergency ward in February 2010.
Last May, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal ruled Durani could keep his Australian visa despite his jail term.
But former immigration minister Tony Burke overruled that decision and Durani was detained the day before September's federal election.
Durani, 38, has been held at the Perth Immigration Detention Centre ever since.
His wife and child are both Australian citizens.
Durani relied on four grounds for his appeal including a denial of procedural fairness, the minister's failure to consider if it was in the national interest for a young child to be separated indefinitely from his father, the minister's failure to consider the low risk of re-offending, and the minister inflexibly applied a rule that any risk of re-offending was unacceptable.
But in the Federal Court on Monday, Justice John Gilmour rejected each ground.
Outside court, Durani's lawyer Shahid Shakur told reporters his client was "utterly disappointed" with the judgement.
"He has been in detention for now nearly six months," he said.
"We expected a different decision."
Mr Shakur said Durani's wife continued to support him and was in court on Monday.
"I could see the sadness on her face," Mr Shakur said.
The lawyer said they hadn't yet read the full judgement but an appeal would be lodged to the full bench of the federal court.
He said the appeal process could take up to six months.
