The police on Saturday said they were planning to begin the process of quashing a first information report against an outsourced employee at Fortis Hospital in Gurugram after a 21-year-old patient accused him of raping her, the Hindustan Times reported.
The police said the statement of the woman, a tuberculosis patient, was recorded on Saturday, and that she had contradicted the details in front of the board of doctors, her legal counsel, and father. She was taken off ventilator support on Friday evening.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (headquarters) Usha Kundu, appointed nodal officer in the case, said she first accused the hospital’s outsourced staff, but later claimed on Saturday that she was raped by the X-ray team. According to the police, the woman changed her statement and said she did not remember anything clearly about the incident.
Kundu said that when a woman and two men had escorted her for an X-Ray in the basement, the complainant claimed she was told she was pregnant. “...she thought she was raped [in the hospital] but her X-Ray was conducted through a portable machine inside the ICU in the presence of woman staff,” the officer told the newspaper. “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.”
On Tuesday, the woman passed on a note to her father and sent signals indicating she may have been raped. The police registered an FIR on the same day. An investigation began and the police went through 30 hours of CCTV footage and questioned the hospital’s employees.
Haryana State Commission for Women’s Acting Chairman Preeti Bhardwaj Dalal visited the victim on Saturday, reported The Indian Express. “Her statement has been taken before psychological councillors, legal experts and the medical superintendent,” she said. “The judicial magistrate is also being requested to come to the hospital and take her statement. Safety of the woman and her health are our topmost priority; we have given directions to safeguard the same.”
Meanwhile, the Fortis Hospital said the patient was stable after their team’s continuous efforts. “We continue to support authorities to conclude the investigation,” a statement said. “With 58% female staff, women’s dignity and safety is our utmost priority…”
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