A 35-year-old woman doctor has lodged a police complaint alleging that the superintendent of the Santipur State General Hospital in Nadia district where she is posted threatened her with consequences akin to those faced by "Abhaya", the junior doctor who was raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Calcutta.

The threat allegedly followed her refusal to comply with directives she found unreasonable.

"I had raised concerns over being denied duties in my specialised field as an MD in Pathology. I had problems when the hospital superintendent insisted that I undertake night duties despite the absence of adequate security at the hospital and restrooms for women doctors on duty at night," she said.

According to her, he warned that she would face a fate like "Abhaya" unless she adhered to his orders. "He further threatened to take matters into his own hands if I did not comply with his instructions," she said. "The threat left me terrified and insecure, prompting me to report the matter to the police and the health administration."

The woman doctor also raised objections when she was tasked with treating critically ill patients in disciplines such as neurology and cardiology, in which she lacked the requisite expertise.

The doctor joined the Nadia hospital as a senior resident pathologist in September last year after her transfer from Burdwan.

"Since I joined, I have not been assigned any pathology duties. Instead, I have been forced to handle patients requiring specialised treatment in domains like cardiology, neurology, general surgery and paediatrics. This is highly irregular and dangerous, given my lack of training in these areas. This fear has caused tremendous mental stress to me and I fell sick, after which I went through counselling sessions," said the doctor.

"The superintendent’s behaviour has been discriminatory and rude with apparent gender bias. Despite my protests, he blatantly refused to assign me duties in pathology, citing that the department has sufficient staff. Instead, I was relegated to general duties."

The superintendent has termed the allegations "baseless."

"Duty assignments are made by a roster committee. Other pathology doctors also undertake general duties. It seems she is unwilling to work or planning a transfer because of the workload."

The superintendent also denied meeting the woman doctor on the day of the alleged threat.

The chief medical officer of health in Nadia, Jyotish Chandra Das, constituted a five-member committee to investigate the matter. He advised the doctor to refrain from duty during the investigation.

Ranaghat police have begun an inquiry but noted that the allegations are "non-cognizable". "The claims appear to be internal administrative issues, but we are looking into the matter," said a police officer.

The complaint said: "This is blatant workplace harassment. It seems despite the uproar over the RG Kar case, to some people, things remain unchanged."