An on-duty Dalit nurse was allegedly raped by a doctor after being held hostage inside a private hospital in Moradabad, police said on Monday.
Based on the complaint of the 20-year-old victim’s father, the accused doctor, identified as Shahnawaz Mallik, was arrested. A nurse and a ward boy have also been detained in connection with the incident that happened around midnight on Sunday.
On Saturday evening, the victim went to the hospital at 7pm for her duty. She had been working there since November last year. Late night, another nurse, Mehnaz, asked her to meet Dr Shahnawaz in his room. When she refused to do so, Mehnaz and a ward boy, Junaid, forcibly took her to a room on the second floor of AVM Hospital and locked it from the outside, the victim’s father said in his complaint.
“The ward boy had also snatched her mobile phone so that she wouldn’t be able to call anybody at that time,” the father alleged.
Later, Shahnawaz entered the room and raped her after holding her hostage, the father said, adding that the accused also threatened her with consequences if she told anybody.
“We came to know about the incident on Sunday and informed the police. The doctor had been misbehaving with her for the last many days and she knew his intention when he called her to his room. She was on duty in the ward on the ground floor at that time. The ward boy and the nurse dragged her to the doctor’s room and locked the door from outside,” the father told reporters in Moradabad.
He said his daughter had felt insecure at the hospital because of the working conditions but could not quit as they were poor.
Satpal Antil, senior superintendent of police of Moradabad, said: “We have arrested the doctor and detained a nurse and a ward boy based on the complaint of the victim’s father.”
Rajesh Kumar, circle officer of the area, said: “Shahnawaz is a bachelor of unani medicine and surgery. A medical team visited the hospital and recommended sealing the building. There are nine patients in the general ward. We will take action against the hospital administration after shifting the patients to other hospitals.”
