Police have registered a case against a doctor at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) after a young woman accused him of sexually harassing her during an alleged medical examination. The woman’s family lodged a First Information Report at Bhangagarh police station after the incident, which she said took place on Thursday.
A police officer said on Saturday that the case had been registered under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including sections relating to sexual harassment and endangering personal safety. The officer said the doctor had been summoned and that interrogation was underway. The doctor’s identity was not disclosed in the report.
According to the woman, she had visited GMCH with her aunt to show a doctor the medical reports of her fiancé, who had reportedly tested negative for HIV. She alleged that the doctor subsequently asked to examine her, although she was not the patient whose reports had been brought for consultation.
The woman said the doctor asked her aunt to wait outside the examination room after asking questions about her relationship with her fiancé. She alleged that he then asked whether she and her fiancé had been physically intimate and told her that she needed to undergo an examination because her fiancé had taken an HIV test. According to her account, the doctor said some diseases could appear months or years later.
She said she initially agreed to a chest and lower-abdominal examination but became uncomfortable when the doctor allegedly asked her to remove her clothes and closed the examination-room door. She accused him of touching her private parts inappropriately and said he later asked her to remove her jeans, claiming that he needed to examine her lower abdomen and private parts. She alleged that he pulled the jeans down himself after insisting that the examination was necessary.
The woman said she eventually left the room in distress. A blood sample was collected later, but she said she reported the incident to hospital staff and her family after she could no longer remain silent. She told the media that she was frightened and initially unable to speak about what had happened.
According to her account, senior doctors later asked her to sit elsewhere in the hospital and submit a written complaint. She alleged that she waited for nearly an hour after submitting the application without receiving further assistance. The family then left the hospital and approached the police, leading to the registration of the FIR.
The police investigation is now underway. The allegations have not been adjudicated, and the doctor’s response to the complaint was not included in the report. The case will depend on the investigation and any further action by the police and hospital authorities.
