Gauhati Medical College and Hospital has barred a doctor from treating patients after a woman accused him of sexual harassment during a medical examination, while police in Guwahati have registered a case and summoned him for questioning.
The alleged incident took place on Thursday after the woman visited GMCH to discuss her fiancé’s HIV test report. Her family later lodged a complaint at Bhangagarh police station. Police said the case had been registered under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to sexual harassment and endangering personal safety.
“We have registered a case based on the woman’s complaint. The doctor has been summoned, and interrogation is underway,” a police officer said, according to the report.
GMCH authorities said on Saturday that the doctor had been barred from treating patients pending an inquiry into the allegations. The report did not identify the doctor or provide details of the hospital’s internal inquiry process.
The woman said she had gone to the hospital with her aunt to show the doctor medical reports belonging to her fiancé, whose HIV test had reportedly returned negative. She alleged that the doctor then asked to examine her, questioning her about whether she and her fiancé had been physically intimate.
According to her account, the doctor told her that an examination was necessary because her fiancé had undergone an HIV test and that some diseases could appear months or years later. She said she initially agreed to a chest and lower-abdominal examination but became uncomfortable after the doctor asked her to remove clothing and closed the examination-room door.
The woman alleged that the doctor examined her without another person present and touched her private parts inappropriately despite her discomfort. She further alleged that he asked her to remove her jeans and pulled them down himself while saying that he needed to examine her private parts. These allegations have not been tested in court.
She said she eventually left the room in distress. After her blood sample was collected, she told hospital staff and family members about what had allegedly happened. She also said that senior doctors asked her to sit elsewhere in the hospital and submit a written account of the incident.
The woman alleged that she waited for nearly an hour after submitting the written complaint but did not receive further assistance. She and her family then left the hospital and approached the police, where they lodged the FIR.
The case places attention on the safeguards that public hospitals must provide during examinations, particularly requirements around informed consent, privacy and the presence of attendants or other authorised personnel where appropriate. The immediate official actions reported so far are the police questioning of the doctor and GMCH’s decision to bar him from treating patients while its inquiry continues.
