A 13-year-old girl, admitted for treatment in the orthopaedics ward of a hospital in Meerut, was allegedly raped by an attendant of another patient inside the women’s washroom around 1 am on Sunday, Hindustan Times reported.
The girl was admitted to the orthopaedic ward of the Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College in Meerut for a leg operation. The accused, Rohit Kumar (20), allegedly followed the girl into the washroom and assaulted her. After the incident, the girl returned to the ward and told her mother what had happened. The mother immediately approached the police with a written complaint.
The Meerut police registered an FIR against the accused under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for rape of a minor under 16 years (Section 65-1), as well as provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. “Rohit, who is originally from Kashipur in Uttarakhand, was arrested the same day, presented in court, and then sent to jail,” SP (Meerut city) Ayush Vikram Singh was quoted by TOI as saying.
In the FIR, the victim’s mother stated: "My daughter was admitted to the orthopaedics department on Friday. The horrific incident took place when she went to the washroom. The man followed her and raped her. She then narrated her ordeal to me, and I approached the police..."
Dr Gyaneshwar Tonk, head of the orthopaedics department, said, “On Sunday afternoon, the staff reported an incident involving a teenage girl admitted to the ward. The girl’s family was asked to inform the Medical police station regarding the matter. We will investigate who was on duty at the time of incident. Instructions have been issued to tighten security in the ward.”
Notably, the hospital administration had recently deployed ex-army jawans for security. The health facility's principal said, "We've deployed one guard, in three shifts, on each floor. But whoever comes to visit a patient here or for OPD, misbehaves if the security guards stop them. Thousands of people visit the hospital every day... We've 42 wards, and if we deploy guards at each of these wards in three shifts, the cost would be prohibitive,” TOI quoted the principal as saying.
Also, there have been instances of unauthorised entry into the hospital campus earlier as well, with the ‘culprits’ allegedly consuming alcohol, engaging in brawls with senior doctors, and even misbehaving with female students. In the past, almost 250 resident doctors had given a ‘mass resignation in protest seeking a better security set up’, according to a report by TOI.
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