Raped And Brutalized Pediatrician Still Battling It Out

Delhi cops are still clueless about the man who raped and brutally attacked a 26-year-old doctor of a government hospital in her hostel room, at Moti Nagar.

While the prime suspect is a doctor employed with the same hospital, the police have so far got no leads to prove this. The clothes that the victim was wearing on that day have also not been found and she is still not medically fit to give a statement. In addition, there is little improvement in the condition of the victim, still in coma. Says Dr Girish Chandra, the medical superintendent of Balaji Healthcare Hospital, where the victim is undergoing treatment:"The condition of the woman is stable, though there has been no encouraging sign."

The police say they are examining the doctors and staff at the state-run ESI Hospital, where the victim was working as a senior resident doctor in the pediatrics department. Some of her colleagues have been questioned and their statements recorded. The cops are also going through the victim’s call records to find out whether she knew the culprit. "We were informed two days after the incident, which gave the culprit a lot of time to destroy the evidence," says a senior police officer.

The victim’s brother-in-law, Ashwani Jain, alleged that the hospital was trying to shield the accused. "The hospital staff, in connivance with those who committed the crime, is trying to destroy the evidence. They know the culprits," he alleges.

While the woman was found unconscious and brutally injured on September 21, the police were informed only on September 23. ESI hospital’s medical superintendent, J N Mahanty, denied that they had earlier detected only poisoning after medical examination of the victim. Says Mahanty: "We had prepared a report and a casesheet, which suggested there were three possibilities — rape, strangulation and poisoning. Let the police come out with the truth."

Meanwhile, the police are waiting for some reports from the forensic lab to take the investigation forward. "We are investigating the matter and reports of medical examination are awaited. There has been no definite breakthrough," says DCP (west) Robin Hibu. A case of attempt to rape and murder has been registered with the Moti Nagar police.

However, unhappy with the pace of investigations, the victim’s family approached the National Commission for Women (NCW) on Wednesday. The commission took cognizance of the case and decided to appoint a fact-finding committee to probe the matter. A two-member NCW team, comprising Malini Bhattacharya and Neeva Konvar, first visited Balaji Healthcare Hospital where the victim is lying in coma for the past four days, and then ESI Hospital, where she was found in an unconscious state at her hostel room. "We wanted to find out why the medical examination of the victim had not been conducted as yet and what was the progress of investigations," says Konvar.

Suggesting that the forensic laboratory should give its report to the police at the earliest, Bhattacharya was quoted: "It appears that whatever happened to the young doctor, happened under suspicious circumstances, and we strongly suspect rape and attempt to murder. We will be producing a report on our own investigations in the case."

Having lost her parents at a young age, the victim has depended on the support of a few relatives. Her cousin and brother-in-law had found her lying unconscious in the hostel room on September 21. "She had told us that she would be coming to our house after work, but till the next day we got no call from her. Then, we went to check at the hospital, as she was not responding on her mobile either. We found her lying inside the hostel room with the door bolted from inside,” her brother-in-law, Jain informed.

The 26-year-old pediatrician was a promising student. She had got the "best student" award in her college after completing her MBBS from Amritsar. "We want ESI Hospital to pay for all the medical expenses and want a proper DNA test to be conducted on her," adds Jain.

Source-Medindia
ANN /J