Sexual harassment: Cops reach 4th floor of AIIMS Rishikesh in SUV, nab accused

The alleged incident of sexual harassment took place Sunday evening. Nursing officer Satish Kumar is alleged to have harassed a junior resident doctor inside an operation theatre. He is also accused of sending objectionable messages to her on WhatsApp the next day, including threats that he would die by suicide.

Dehradun SSP Ajai Singh said, “After the May 19 incident, the matter was initially internally handled by the AIIMS administration. The accused was also admitted to the hospital after he complained of some health issues.”

The officer said doctors protested Tuesday after which the matter was reported to police and an FIR was filed under IPC sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

The accused had been admitted to a ward in the hospital at the time, and the SSP said there was a “possibility of a law-and-order situation”.

“When the police reached, the AIIMS security in-charge said that we need to remove the accused from the ward, otherwise things could escalate and even result in mob lynching. To ensure a safe exit, we took the passage (ramp) used by ambulances to carry serious patients,” the officer said.

“The police SUV went to the fourth floor and arrested the accused because it would have been hard to safely bring the accused on foot. When returning, the protesters saw the SUV and chased it. On the first floor, the SUV was surrounded and the AIIMS security personnel decided to create a passage through the Emergency Ward Triage to let it exit. The video making rounds is of the first-floor emergency triage,” Singh said.

Talking to the media, AIIMS director Professor Meenu Singh said there was a lot of obstruction as the police SUV tried to exit the building after the arrest, and that this was why a passage was created through the area used as the Emergency Ward Triage. “The vehicle passed at a slow speed. Our security personnel were also there, ensuring that the patients lying were shifted to the side. There wasn’t any injury to anyone…,” the director said.

On Wednesday, state Women’s Commission chairperson Kusum Kandwal went to the institute and met the victim, as well as the Dean, Dr Jaya Chaturvedi, and other women doctors.

Kandwal directed Dehradun DM to form a probe committee. AIIMS administration has suspended the accused, and removed Assistant Nursing Superintendent Sinoj P from his post, after Kandwal called for his suspension also because he had sent the accused on duty even after the complaint.