21-year-old TB patient raped in private hospital in Gurgaon

A staff from a well-known private hospital in Gurgaon allegedly raped a 21-year-old woman who was admitted at the hospital for severe tuberculosis, according to the police.

The FIR filed at Sushant Lok police station mentioned that the woman was admitted at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on October 21 when she faced difficulties in breathing and was placed on ventilator support.

The woman, a resident of Mahendragarh, had reportedly been in a semi-conscious condition when the incident took place between October 21 and 27. She lost consciousness after the ordeal and woke up six days later on Tuesday (October 27).

She then wrote about the alleged sexual assault in a note that she gave to her father, and used hand signals to explain what happened.

Sources told NDTV that the woman’s family has said the medical check-up should be conducted at a government hospital.

Expressing outrage, the woman’s father asked, “How can anyone do such a thing with a patient who is on a ventilator?”, according to Times of India.

“My daughter was raped while being in a hospital. This is a breach of patient security and safety,” he said.

The police are currently probing the issue to see if the accused named by the woman works at the hospital. The officers could not, however, record the woman’s statement since the doctors at the hospital told them that the patient was in no condition to talk.

“We are probing the case. We are trying to find out if Vikas worked at the hospital. The woman’s parents are not aware of it. We would be able to get clarity once we get a statement from the patient. We are probing the CCTV footage from the hospital to get clues,” NDTV quoted police officer Maksood Ahmad as saying.

The police and medical staff at the hospital did not elaborate on who Vikas was. However, the staff at the hospital said only family members/relatives of the patient and hospital attendants were usually allowed inside the ICU.

According to Hindustan Times, Usha Kundu, assistant commissioner of police (HQ), said, “The hospital conducted an investigation internally and we were informed by the family members (about the alleged crime), following which we have registered a case under section 376 (2) (E) of Indian Penal Code at Sushant Lok police station. We have identified the suspect but are yet to arrest him.”

While other media reports said the police had not yet confirmed if the accused was part of the staff from the hospital, Hindustan Times quoted Usha Kundu as saying that the accused was a non-medical, outsourced staff.

Following inquiry of the staff and checking of CCTV footage, she said, “It was found that the suspect is outsourced and is non-medical staff. We are verifying all the details before arresting the suspect.”

The Federal could not verify this independently.

The hospital said they were fully cooperating with the police in their investigation. Their statement read, “The patient was admitted to the ICU and from the second day of her admission, she has been on ventilator support. Six days after admission, the patient alleged that she had been violated on the day of admission. Post her complaint, we immediately informed the police. We have a zero-tolerance policy in such situations and are extending full cooperation and support including entire CCTV footage to the police.”

The police further said counselling will be provided to the woman once she recovers.