Pregnant woman raped,spends night on hospital floor

Hospital records showed her medical examination was completed on the night of January 5 and she was admitted for antenatal tests to ascertain the condition of the foetus.

Lying on Bed 109 of Ward 4,the woman told Newsline: “I reached the hospital around 11 pm. They completed the tests and MLC registration by 1.30 am,and told me I had to get admitted. I was in extreme pain and felt completely disoriented. I wanted to go home,but my husband said we had to follow the doctor’s advice.”

She and her husband were told to go to the gynaecology ward on the first floor. “The police officer who took us to the hospital left us on the ground floor. There was nobody to guide us. We found our way upstairs,” said the victim’s husband,a tailor.

“Everybody was sleeping in the ward… at first,the guards on duty did not allow me inside. In the end,my husband sat outside with the guard all night,while I spread my shawl on the floor and slept there. I shivered all night.”

She claimed that the next day,no doctor or nurse checked on her until noon. With nobody to guide her,she sat on Bed 113. “It was one bed with a single patient. It was uncomfortable on the floor,so I went and sat in a corner of the bed.” It was from here,she said,that doctors collected her blood samples.

Counsellors from Delhi government’s rape crisis intervention cell in East Delhi,NGO Pratidhi,which provides legal and emotional support to rape victims — visited the woman on January 6.

Suman Gusain,the counsellor who met her in hospital,said: “She was in a pitiable state,sitting in a corner of a bed where one patient was lying,and another woman was sitting. She told us she was in severe pain,and that no medical intervention had been made.”

According to Gusain,the ward staff said the HoD,Gynaecology,was on leave and till she returned,the patient could not be discharged or allotted another bed.

The woman said that on January 8,she noticed that there was no one on Bed 108,so she occupied it. The same day,a doctor came and told her to move to Bed 109 since 108 had been allotted to a postoperative patient.

When Newsline sough her comments,Dr Sunita Fotedar,HoD-Gynaecology,said the woman could not have slept on the floor the first night. She said as per records,the woman had been allotted Bed 103 on a shared basis with two others. “Doubling and tripling is very common here,since we have such a rush,” she said.

Asked why a rape victim was made to run around for tests,Dr Fotedar said: “These were antenatal tests done to see if the baby is alright. Her pregnancy did not result from rape. Why should she be treated differently from other patients?”

A police officer said: “The police have no role when it comes to a hospital dealing with a patient. We helped her file the FIR,and took her to hospital for a medical examination. After that,the hospital took over.”