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Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria said, “The hospital has denied the allegation. But we will look into the matter.”
Police and hospital authorities have denied allegations made by parents of a victim of molestation and assault that she was subjected to two-finger test, the “crude and archaic” medical test for rape victims banned by the state government.
According to the Nehru Nagar police, the 23-year-old girl, a student, was attacked on the evening of September 24 and dragged into bushes on the Eastern Express Highway. Two alert beat marshals, Vilas Garekar and Balasaheb Walunj, came to her rescue and nabbed one of the suspects, Mahadev Gounder (45). The girl was sent to the Sion Hospital for medical examination.
Later, her parents approached the Mumbai police commissioner alleging that the hospital insisted on a two-finger test.
The hospital authorities, however, denied having carried out any two-finger test. The standard protocol was followed, they said. “The girl must have got tensed and thought it was a two-finger test. Nothing of this sort happened. The victim also refused to undergo a swab test,” said Dr Avinash Supe, dean of Sion Hospital.
“We had sent the victim along with a woman constable to Sion Hospital after the incident,” said Suresh Bhavar, senior police inspector of Nehru Nagar police station. Bhavar said Gounder had tried to strangulate the victim when she started putting up a fight.
“We have charged Gounder with attempt to murder and outraging a woman’s modesty. The doctors were told about the nature of the case. There was no reason to conduct a two-finger test by the hospital authorities,” Bhavar added.
Dr Yogeshwar Nandanwar, head of obstetrics and gynaecology at Sion hospital, said, “The girl narrated the entire incident and the medical officers felt she had been sexually assaulted following which they followed the standard procedure.”
According to a report submitted to the hospital dean on Monday, two female doctors attended to the victim and following her consent, they proceeded to examine her.
The victim’s mother also works in the catheterization lab at the hospital.
Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria said, “The hospital has denied the allegation. But we will look into the matter.”
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