India’s medical community expressed outrage on Wednesday over an incident in Rajasthan where a gynaecologist committed suicide after police registered a murder case against her following the death of her patient from post-childbirth bleeding.

Doctors in Jaipur and Delhi staged protests and national doctors’ associations asked authorities to take steps to curb what they have described as malicious harassment of doctors, complaining that the police had violated Supreme Court directives by filing a case against the gynaecologist.

Archana Sharma, the 42-year-old gynaecologist and mother of two, hanged herself on Tuesday after the police registered the murder case. A woman patient of hers had died of post-partum haemorrhage a day earlier in Sharma’s hospital in Lalsot, Dausa district, about 40km southeast of Jaipur.

Sharma and her husband Suneet Upadhyay, a psychiatrist, had given up faculty positions at a Gujarat medical college to set up their own hospital in Lalsot, a rural area and Upadhyay’s native place, about a decade ago, a doctor close to the family said.

In her suicide note, circulated across social media on Wednesday, Sharma wrote: “…Don’t harass innocent doctors. Please.…”

Doctors say post-partum haemorrhage is a known and severe complication following childbirth.

“Sometimes, post-partum haemorrhage can’t be managed even in the most sophisticated medical facilities,” said Vinay Aggarwal, former national president of the Indian Medical Association, the country’s largest body of doctors.

The police registered an FIR under Section 302, which deals with murder. “A doctor shouldn’t even be asked why it happened,” said Aggarwal. “Instead we’re seeing the tragic outcome of the irresponsible and irrational decision by police to accuse Dr Archana of committing murder.”

The Supreme Court had in a 2005 ruling directed that an investigating officer, before proceeding against a doctor accused of a rash or negligent act or omission, should obtain “an independent and competent opinion preferably from a doctor in government service….”

Aggarwal and others say the gynaecologist’s suicide has lifted a shroud off the risk of extortion that doctors across India face. “The suicide is tragic, but the circumstances under which it occurred are not unique,” said Prem Aggarwal, cardiologist and president of the National Medical Forum.

The Forum, a non-government entity, on Wednesday urged the Chief Justice of India to intervene to stop the “ongoing atrocities against the medical profession… so that they can practise with safety and dignity”.

Doctors in India work under “the constant fear of violent attacks, verbal abuse, aggressive gestures, and malicious and baseless prosecution”, the Forum wrote in a letter to the Chief Justice, complaining about the police actions in Sharma’s case and citing 32 cases of attacks on doctors since 2019.

“We’re seeing a practice across rural Rajasthan — the deceased patient’s body is placed on the street in front of a hospital and a crowd gathers,” said Raj Shekhar Yadav, convener of the United Private Clinics and Hospitals Association, Rajasthan.

“There is a term for this — ‘mautana’. This is what happened in Dr Sharma’s case.”

“Mautana” is a tribal term for compensation for death paid by those responsible for it.

“In many cases, local political goons and the police facilitate out-of-court settlements in such cases for reasons best known to them,” Yadav said. “This is pure extortion — doctors just give in even when there is absolutely no case to be made of negligence. Hard-earned reputations can be destroyed in minutes.”

The Federation of All India Medical Associations (Faima) wrote to Rajasthan chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday, complaining about harassment by the deceased patient’s attendants, political goons and the police and underlining the violation of the Supreme Court directives.

“Dr Sharma’s suicide note is an eye-opener that the nation fails to provide adequate security to healthcare workers,” Faima said.

Gehlot on Wednesday ordered the removal of Dausa SP Anil Kumar, suspended Lalsot SHO Ankesh Kumar and put Lalsot deputy SP Shankar Lal under awaiting posting orders. The divisional commissioner of Jaipur, Dinesh Kumar Yadav, will conduct an inquiry.