Hospital rape: No conclusive evidence in case against staffer, cops plan to quash FIR

Police on Saturday said they were planning to initiate the process of quashing the first information report (FIR) against an outsourced staffer of Fortis Hospital

Police on Saturday said they were planning to initiate the process of quashing the first information report (FIR) against an outsourced staffer of Fortis Hospital booked for allegedly raping a 21-year-old tuberculosis patient in the intensive care unit.

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A one-page statement of the woman was recorded in the hospital on Saturday and she contradicted the details of her complaint before her legal counsel, the board of doctors and her father, police said. The patient was taken off ventilator support on late Friday evening.

Usha Kundu, assistant commissioner of police (headquarters), who was appointed nodal officer for the case on Saturday morning, said the victim first raised fingers at the hospital’s outsourced staff and on Saturday said she was raped by the X-Ray team.

“She stated that a woman and two men had taken her for an X-Ray in the basement and told her that she was pregnant and she thought she was raped but her X-Ray was conducted through a portable machine inside the ICU in the presence of woman staff. The teams were questioned and they said they had asked her if she was pregnant before the X-Ray and had used a technical term ‘intubate’ which she presumed was intimate. Also, the team had mentioned another word ‘exposure’ which she mistook as expose. Her allegations were found to be incorrect and she gave contradictory statements and said that she is not sure if she was sexually assaulted,” she said.

Kundu said they found no truth in any of her allegations written in a three-page note handed over to them by her father on Tuesday, following which the case was registered. The victim changed her statement and said she did not remember anything clearly, police said.

“The victim through a handwritten note had conveyed to her father that she was raped and she was pregnant. But the dates mentioned in the complaint and written by the victim did not match with her admission in the hospital. She had also stated that no food was provided to her for two days whereas she was continuously on ventilator support and glucose drips and was facing severe breathing issues. Her medical examination was conducted by a board of doctors and she was not found to be pregnant,” said Kundu.

The victim will be given psychological therapy on Sunday and regular counselling sessions have been scheduled for her, said police.

KK Rao, commissioner of police, said they have monitored the entire CCTV footage of more than 10 cameras on both the floors between October 21 and 27 but they did not find any foul play nor was the footage tampered. “We are further investigating the matter. There is no other evidence against the suspect named in the FIR nor his movements were located near the ICU. The FIR will be quashed against him once all the statements are recorded and the FSL report is submitted,” he said.

The case is also being supervised by the Haryana State Commission for Women (HSCW) which took suo motu cognisance of the incident on Thursday and constituted an inquiry committee.

Preeti Bhardwaj, vice-chairperson of HSCW, said they have requested a judicial magistrate to record the victim’s statement in the hospital. “We have requested the hospital management not to charge her during this period as the family and victim have undergone mental trauma. Being a tuberculosis patient she will need to undergo treatment for at least 12 months and we have requested the hospital to treat her for free. We are providing a psychological counsellor for the victim and she will be given therapies to recover from the trauma. The victim mistook technical terms and presumed that the staff was threatening her. I am satisfied with the civil hospital doctors’ report and the investigation conducted by the Gurugram police,” she said, adding that they have sought a detailed report of the case from police and the hospital before they quash the FIR.

The management of the hospital said in a statement: “The patient came to the hospital in an extremely critical condition and we are glad to inform that with continuous efforts of our medical team, the patient is consistently improving, and she is stable now. Post today’s development, we understand that police has issued an update on this case. We continue to support the authorities to conclude the investigation. With 58% female staff, women’s dignity and safety is our utmost priority and we have acted in accordance with this ethos from the very start. We have full faith in our system and know that truth and justice will prevail.”

On Thursday, the chief medical officer (CMO) of Gurugram Civil Hospital told Gurugram Police that a sexual assault could not be ruled out. The CMO did not comment on the matter on Saturday.