A Chennai head constable was detained on Saturday after staging a black-flag protest near his home and raising slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that doctors at the Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children in Egmore mishandled his 10-year-old daughter’s treatment.
Kothandapani, attached to the Avadi Tank Factory police station, was detained by Muthapudupet police near his residence in Muthapudupet. His protest took place a day before Modi’s scheduled visit, according to a report by the Times of India.
Kothandapani said his daughter had been receiving treatment at the Egmore hospital for kidney disorder, identified as nephrotic syndrome, since she was three years old. He alleged that doctors misdiagnosed her condition as brain fever after she suffered a seizure in October 2021.
According to the constable, complications that followed resulted in the amputation of his daughter’s leg. He described the treatment as medical negligence and sought the state government’s intervention after the hospital denied the allegations.
The dispute highlights the difficulty faced by families seeking accountability from major public hospitals when treatment outcomes are contested. The Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children has rejected Kothandapani’s allegations, but the report does not provide details of any independent medical review, inquiry or official finding on the treatment provided.
Kothandapani also said he was denied entry to the state secretariat while attempting to submit a petition seeking government intervention. The reported detention followed his decision to take the grievance into a public protest near his home, where he used black flags and slogans directed at the prime minister.
The case involves two separate institutional questions: the police action taken over the protest and the unresolved dispute over the medical treatment of the child. The available report confirms the detention and the competing accounts, but does not establish whether negligence occurred or whether any departmental or medical inquiry has been ordered.
Further developments will depend on the response of the state government, the hospital administration and the police to the constable’s allegations and petition.
